The most critical race in New Hampshire this election cycle isn’t the gubernatorial or congressional contests—it’s the state senate primary in District 23 between incumbent Bill Gannon and challenger Emily Phillips.
This may seem hyperbolic, but I assure you it is not. For years, the House has served as the people’s chamber in our state legislature, while the Senate has catered to lobbyists. The House operates with transparency, while the Senate functions in the shadows, avoiding public scrutiny by largely refusing to conduct roll call votes.
This race between Gannon and Phillips could change that. Emily Phillips is a proven conservative champion with an exemplary voting record, while Bill Gannon is a complacent Republican with a lackluster, sometimes non-existent, voting history.
The Senate knows its status quo is at risk if Phillips wins, and Bill Gannon has resorted to one of the dirtiest smear campaigns in state politics.
It began with a flood of mailers and texts, distorting procedural votes to mislead the public. The votes in question, to table legislation, do not always reflect policy positions, but often are strategic. Bill Gannon himself voted to table the Fetal Life Protection Act and the initial Education Freedom Account bill that became law in 2021. Does that mean Gannon is pro-abortion and anti-education freedom? Probably not, but that is exactly how Gannon is mischaracterizing Phillips’ votes.
This week, Gannon supporters are running an ad on Fox News with a photoshopped image of Phillips wearing a mask, claiming she “masked the kids.” The ad also quotes her from her time on the school board during COVID, where she says she was “happy” with the policy. She was happy because she’d fought against mandating masks – and won.
Hours before Phillips filed to run for state representative in 2022, she called me asking if I thought she should challenge her incumbent representative. She felt compelled to run after her state rep voted against a bill I sponsored to ban public school mask mandates. Ultimately she ran, won, and has been one of the strongest fighters for medical freedom and bodily autonomy, sponsoring another bill to ban public school mask mandates.
Gannon’s blatant lies about Phillips are appalling and an affront to the principles of honest campaigning. I have no problem with educating voters about voting records—the public has the right to choose politicians who best reflect their values. But blatant dishonesty should never be tolerated.
Gannon seems to believe that lying is the only way to deflect from his own failures. While Phillips has been running a positive campaign focused on her strengths as a legislator, I will help educate voters about my concerns with Gannon’s record. He voted against medical freedom (2022 HB1210), against lowering pharmaceutical prices (2024 HB1365), against reforming our tyrannical state of emergency laws (2022 HB1425), and against ending local mask mandates (2022 HB1268). He has also been a part of the Senate’s well-choreographed dance to avoid roll calls and cover for each other on critical bills.
My message to Bill Gannon is clear: Run on your own record and stop deceiving voters with lies. Let the people decide who truly represents their conservative values. And in my view, that choice is clear.
