Alderman At-Large Joe Kelly Levasseur acknowledged during an interview Tuesday that he was a late entry to the crowded GOP First Congressional District primary, a factor that has cost him both time and campaign money.
Yet Levasseur may have an ace-in-the hole, since his hometown happens to be by far the most populous city (110,000-plus) in the Granite State.
“I’m pretty well known in this area,” Levasseur said.
The former restaurant owner also has a track record of giving Queen City Democrats all they can handle. In 2010, he lost a general election race against longtime Democratic incumbent state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro by less than 160 votes. And in 2016, Levasseur challenged incumbent Executive Councilor Chris Pappas and lost by less than five percentage points — a libertarian third-party candidate effectively made up the difference.
In January, Levasseur was elected by his peers to serve as chairman of the Manchester Board of Aldermen, the first Republican in that post since 1998. When he’s not running his general practice law firm or tending to City Hall matters, Levasseur can be found on television hosting a local access live call-in show alongside state Rep. Will Infantine (R-Manchester).
The “Will and Joe” show has also proven to be a thorn in the Democrats’ side. During former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig’s administration, a typical topic on the show dealt with Levasseur walking viewers through images of vagrant encampments that began popping up across the city and the drug use that went along with them.
“I’ve been doing a community access television show for 25 years, and basically that show is what informs the people of the city of what is really going on here,” Levasseur said. “I have over 1,000 pictures of campsites that have been destroyed by the vagrants that have invaded Manchester.
“I’ve exposed all this and shown the lack of leadership and lack of effort on behalf of the taxpayers, homeowners, and renters in Manchester.”
Infantine told NHJournal that Levasseur is someone people would be wise to never count out.
“I like to tell everyone that in Manchester, politics is a full contact sport, and it is,” he said. “If you grew up here, get into politics here, and win here, you’ve got some thick skin.”
Infantine said he and Levasseur rarely talk about their own campaigns on the show. The two met when Levasseur owned and operated Joe Kelly’s Restaurant on Elm Street. Infantine worked downtown and would typically see Levasseur at lunchtime. The two became friends. Infantine and Levasseur both had separate shows, but that changed when another co-host on Levasseur’s show, Ward 5 Alderman Anthony Sapienza, stepped away from the studio.
Infantine credits Kelly Levasseur’s “shoe leather” work ethic for his successes.
“As someone who is conservative, he’d been a minority on the board for so many years as an alderman,” Infantine said. “He fights for the little guy. Other people misunderstand how his fighting is simply him sticking up for the regular people in the city.”
So why the abrupt decision to wait until this summer to leap head-first into a congressional primary, when other candidates had been at it for almost a year? Levasseur said he’d simply had enough.
“To go to Washington to be an ally for (Donald) Trump’s America First agenda,” Levasseur promptly answered when asked why he’s running. “The constant lawfare against Trump is very worrisome for anyone who owns businesses in this country, and anyone who is even remotely thinking about jumping into politics.
“If you’re not singing the praises of the government, it seems you’ve become a target, and it’s time for us to fight back.”
Levasseur wasted no time jumping into the fray after adding his name to the primary. Soon after he formally launched his campaign, Levasseur participated in a debate with the three most established Republican CD-01 candidates.
He immediately targeted Pappas, now the Democratic incumbent congressman, in his opening remarks.
“There’s no one Chris Pappas, the Invisible Man, fears more,” Levasseur said at the time. “I have won seven straight elections in a blue city as a Republican — and not a milquetoast Republican, a Republican that is Trump tough.”
But before he can once again take on Pappas, Levasseur must first emerge from a crowded primary.
The good news for him is that a recent Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll of GOP primary voters put Levasseur at the top of the Republican leaderboard with 15 percent support, five percentage points ahead of Executive Councilor Russell Prescott.
The bad news is that the poll found 60 percent of respondents are still unsure, or don’t know enough about the four candidates to make an educated decision.
Levasseur said his record as an alderman and his name recognition in Manchester might just be what punches his ticket for a second showdown with Pappas.
“Let’s just say I’m looking forward to it,” Levasseur said about the prospect of facing off against Pappas on a debate stage.
Asked to identify some of the policy stances he disagrees most with Pappas, Levasseur immediately cited the Democratic incumbent’s vote to “water down” Title IX, the law that guarantees women are on equal footing as men in collegiate sports and other areas of academics. In April 2023, Pappas voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
The bill sought to allow women to compete in sports without being forced to compete against biological males.
Another issue Levasseur identified is what he perceives as Pappas’s support for ending the Electoral College. During a 2020 debate, when asked if he backed the idea, Pappas responded by calling the Electoral College an “antiquated compromise” and saying “I think that’s something we should take a look at.”
Levasseur said dumping the electoral system “would basically kill New Hampshire from having any political weight at all.”
“For him to take away that from us and the tiny power of electoral votes, those four electoral votes are what helped (President George W.) Bush win the White House in 2000,” he pointed out.
Asked what sets him apart from the other GOP primary candidates, Levasseur said it’s all about location.
“I think what sets us apart is where I’m from and where most of the votes are,” he said. “But I started late, they started early, and they have a lot more money that I have.”
Asked to comment about what could happen further down the road, Levasseur offered a candid assessment.
“If I win this election it will be the biggest surprise in quite a lot of elections,” he said. “This would absolutely qualify as a major upset.”
