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Women in New Hampshire’s GOP are getting a boost from the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national organization throwing its support behind women candidates in State House races up and down the ballot. 

“The RSLC is encouraged to see so many women candidates running in state legislative races who will effectively represent their communities in Concord and advance commonsense policies to counteract Joe Biden’s failed agenda,” said RSLC National Press Secretary Stephanie Rivera.

The RSLC has so far spent $500,000 to help send women and others to Concord this election cycle. According to Rivera, 27 percent of the Republicans running for the House this year are women, as are 26 percent of the GOP Senate candidates. Betting on Republican women is a safe wager, she said.

“In the State House, 51 percent of Republican women who ran in 2020 won their campaigns. In the Senate, Republican women had a 55 percent success rate,” she said.

According to Rivera, the RSLC’s Right Leaders Network is leading the effort to grow the Republican Party through the RSLC’s Right Women Right Now and Future Majority Project initiatives. The committee is focused on recruiting, training, supporting, and electing thousands of diverse state Republicans across the country.

New Hampshire is a key state for both Republicans and Democrats, as the national parties are looking to gain a foothold in state legislature races. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is targeting legislatures in New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota, pumping money and resources in an effort to turn all three state legislatures blue.

“We know what we’re up against, but we are making a play to undercut GOP power in the Michigan House and Senate, the Minnesota Senate, and the New Hampshire House and Senate,” DLCC President Jessica Post said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

It makes sense for the national GOP to invest in New Hampshire races, according to Rivera, as the GOP leadership in Concord has proven successful in handling the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic, and voters are looking to continue that success.

“New Hampshire has the best economy in the New England region and the second lowest unemployment rate in the country because the Republican-controlled Legislature has made the economy a top priority by passing a historic state budget that includes $171 million in tax relief for working families and small businesses, cuts taxes for retirees, and reduces property taxes by $100 million to provide relief. This diverse slate of candidates will help Republicans hold both chambers in the Granite State to continue this record of success,” Rivera said.

Democrats have been leaning heavily on abortion as an issue to motivate their base. They’re spending big money on ads attacking GOP Gov. Chris Sununu for signing a law that bans abortion after 24 weeks, or six months, of pregnancy. Sununu’s challenger, Sen. Tom Sherman, D-Rye, is using abortion as a major campaign plank, arguing against any restrictions on abortion.

“I would want to put in place Roe v. Wade in the state of New Hampshire,” Sherman said. “New Hampshire does not want the state in between a doctor and a patient, especially on such an intensely private issue.”

The issue may play with well Democratic donors, but not even New Hampshire Democrats support unrestricted abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. A St. Anslem College poll taken in August found about a quarter of Granite State Democrats support some limits on abortion, as do about 70 percent of the general population.

Rivera said New Hampshire voters, especially women voters, see the GOP as having the answer to issues like out-of-control inflation, soaring energy costs, and the price of food.

“Just like all voters in New Hampshire, women are pleased with the job being done by the Republican trifecta in Concord to push back against Joe Biden’s inflation with tax cuts that put more money in the pockets of working families,” Rivera said.

Granite Staters may think Concord is a center of chaos and conflict, but a new report finds it’s the safest state capital in the country — and the most liveable capital city in New England.

The data analysts at WalletHub released its latest rankings on Monday. Concord came in sixth in the nation for overall livability, thanks in part to having the lowest crime rate of any capital city in the U.S. Austin, Texas, Raleigh, N.C., and Madison, Wisc. made up the top three.

“It scored well in terms of affordability, as it has the third-highest median household income, over $68,000. Looking at the capital’s economic well-being, we found that it has the third-lowest share of the population living in poverty, just 9 percent, the lowest unemployment rate, 2.2 percent, as well as a low bankruptcy rate,” added WalletHub’s Jill Gonzalez.

Concord finished ahead of Montpelier, Vt. (18) and well ahead of Boston, Mass. (23). The remaining New England capitols all finished in the bottom 10: Providence, R.I. (41), Augusta, Maine (44), and Hartford, Conn. (48).

Concord’s positives are no secret to Granite Staters like state Rep. Safiya Wazir (D). Wazir’s family fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan when she was a child and she is proud to call Concord her new home.

“Concord is a great place to raise a family and offers a variety of quality educational opportunities for children and adults,” she said. “Concord was a welcoming place when my family and I arrived as refugees, a place we could live and thrive, contribute to, and form strong connections and a deep sense of community.”

WalletHub’s analysts looked at key indicators like affordability as well as safety and quality of life when determining the rankings, according to Gonzalez.

“Other factors that are an indication for Concord’s quality of life include the large share of adults in good health, almost 87 percent, the large number of movie theaters, its air quality, low crime rate and an overall high perception of safety,” she said.

Concord typically ranks in the top 10 on WalletHub’s annual list, thanks to its strong economic base, low crime rate, and other attributes. Concord ranks 4th in overall affordability, 17th in economic well-being, and 14th in quality of education and health. It has the lowest crime rate of all the capital cities, and it is tied for 1st in having the lowest unemployment rate for capital cities. Concord is also third in terms of having the lowest poverty rate. 

Trenton, N.J. ranks worst in the country among capital cities, narrowly edging out Joe Biden’s home state capital of Dover, Del. Little Rock, Ark. has the highest crime rate, while Trenton has the highest poverty rate and the worst rate for education. Hartford has the highest unemployment rate, and Boston ranks as the least affordable. 

Granite State cities are no strangers to accolades like this. Nashua topped the 2019 list of best cities put out by Money Magazine, and it came in the top ten in this year’s WalletHub list of best cities for employment.

A federal judge shot down Democrats’ attempt to force New Hampshire House GOP leadership to allow remote participation in the upcoming session scheduled to begin Wednesday.

“The court concludes that the Speaker is immune from plaintiffs’ suit challenging his enforcement of a House rule that is closely related to core legislative functions,” Judge Landya McCafferty said in her 17-page order dismissing the Democrats’ request for injunctive relief.

Managing the risks of COVID-19 is a tough challenge for the 400-member House, the third-largest legislative body in the world. (Only the U.S. Congress [435] and the British House of Commons [650] are larger.)

Speaker Sherm Packard and his office previously denied requests to allow remote attendance, instead offering a square-footage solution. Wednesday’s session will occur in a 50,000 square-foot venue in Bedford, allowing far more than the CDC-recommended guidelines for social distancing among House members.

Even though former Democratic Speaker Steve Shurtleff used the same strategy a few months ago without objection, Democrats sued this time.

Led by House Minority Leader Renny Cushing of Hampton, they claimed the set-up violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Before Judge Landya McCafferty on Friday, they argued Speaker Packard did not have legislative immunity, which would free the court to rule in their favor.

Judge McCafferty disagreed.

In the court’s ruling, McCafferty reiterated the House has met in-person since the onset of the pandemic and laid out the number of votes taken that would have allowed remote attendance, all of which failed. Lawyers for Speaker Packard repeated that point at last Friday’s hearing.

NH Sportsplex in Bedford

“We’re being sued because the vote [to allow remote participation in session] failed,” attorney Anthony Galdieri argued, an opinion the judge affirmed in the ruling.

Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure strictly prohibits remote sessions without a House Rule or Constitutional Amendment allowing it, neither of which exist in New Hampshire.

“All this ruling means is that the Speaker is solely to blame for active and obvious exclusion of members of the House,” Cushing said in a statement following the judge’s order.

“Unfortunately, this case has exposed the callous indifference of House Republican leadership toward our most vulnerable members during the COVID-19 crisis that has taken the lives of a half a million Americans,” Cushing wrote. The Hampton Democrat says he still plans to attend in-person this week, despite his ongoing cancer battle. He encouraged the members of his caucus to make their own risk assessments.

On Organization Day in December, the first session after their party lost power, more than 118 Democrats chose not to attend. In January, that number was down to a few dozen.

Speaker Packard insists this week’s sessions will be safe. “We will continue to work with all House members to ensure that if they choose to attend any legislative meeting in person, that they can be confident that we are taking a high degree of precaution, and have extensive health and safety measures in place.”

Among safety precautions implemented by the Republican Speaker are 10 to 12 feet of social distancing between members, separate entrances for Democrats and Republicans (as many GOP representatives have been known to attend maskless), separate restrooms for maskless members, and a mask mandate for all non-members.