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The three Republican candidates vying to take on Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster this fall clashed over immigration and abortion Monday night during the New Hampshire Journal debate at Saint Anselm’s New Hampshire Institute for Politics. 

Bob Burns, the “pro-Trump” candidate from Pembroke, spent most of the night on offense. He attacked his opponents, Weare’s Lily Tang Williams and Keene Mayor George Hansel, over their stances on illegal immigration. 

Burns accused Tang Williams of supporting a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and called out “Woke George’s sanctuary city, Keene.”

“So, you’re lying again, Bob, as usual,” Hansel responded. “Keene is not a sanctuary city.”

Hansel said Keene’s police chief assured him the department will cooperate with federal agents when enforcing immigration laws, as opposed to the policies in actual sanctuary cities where police do not assist federal immigration agents.

Tang Williams also accused Burns of lying about her record. She supports a pathway to citizenship for people who qualify for the DACA program, those brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children and who were raised in America. However, she said she does not support a pathway for people who came illegally as adults.

“Bob’s campaign has been attacking me from the very beginning,” Tang Williams said. “Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans attacking you?”

They also differ on abortion considering the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case. Burns said if elected he will push for a federal heartbeat bill that would limit abortions nationally.

“Instead of codifying Roe v. Wade, we should be codifying life,” Burns said.

Tang Williams supports the recent Supreme Court ruling to send the question of abortion back to the states, allowing local voters to make their own decision. Tang Williams does not support any new federal law regulating or banning abortion, saying the matter needs to be left to the people in each state.

“It should always belong to the states to let local people decide it,” she said.

Hansel, who is pro-choice, agrees with the Dobbs ruling, saying it allows states to craft laws that make sense for their own people. He does not support any federal law regarding abortion.

“This is an issue that is firmly with the states, which is where it belongs,” Hansel said. “This is a contentious issue, and the decisions belong as close to the people as possible.”

Hansel said voters are very concerned about record levels of inflation and soaring energy prices, issues where President Joe Biden’s administration has failed and they are not up for fighting more culture war battles.

“It’s all about inflation, it’s all about the higher costs that people are paying here in New Hampshire because of Joe Biden and Ann Kuster’s reckless Washington agenda,” Hansel said.

Both Tang Williams and Burns sent out press releases Monday night claiming victory in the debate.

The full debate, hosted by NH Journal, is available for streaming online at NH Journal’s Facebook page.

Gov. Chris Sununu made an unannounced stop at Mayor George Hansel’s campaign kickoff event Tuesday in Keene to back the GOP mayor’s bid for Congress in the Second District. 

“George Hansel is the first congressional candidate I’m endorsing,” Sununu pointed out. “I’m behind George 100 percent. His record of public service, the fact that he’s a businessman, and you’ve never seen someone better at constituent service. He really is just phenomenal at getting at the touchpoint, and that’s exactly what people want out of Washington D.C.,” Sununu said.

Hansel’s electoral success as a Republican in one of the Granite State’s most liberal cities has surprised many and has marked him as a rising star in the party. State GOP insiders have been speculating for weeks that he might enter the race, particularly after Sununu favorite Jeff Cozzens dropped out in April.

Hansel said he’s running on his record of fiscal responsibility in the face of growing economic uncertainty and crippling inflation that is hurting New Hampshire families.

“Inflation is really starting to erode our quality of life. I can’t stand by while Granite State families continue to fall behind through no fault of their own,” Hansel said. “Gas prices are surging, groceries are going up, our retirement savings are going down. Reckless federal spending has been bailing out big urban centers and it’s been raising costs for the rest of us.”

Hansel’s team sees an opportunity to unseat Rep. Annie Kuster, D-Hopkinton, the five-term incumbent they say has been AWOL during much of the current economic crisis. The campaign feels it has a real opportunity to win, especially given the support from Sununu.

Hansel said New Hampshire families are dealing with Washington’s inaction and economic malpractice.

“This winter, I can’t even imagine, families are going to be sitting around their kitchen tables and they’re gonna be opening the heating bills and figuring out how to get by,” he said. “They are going to have to make heartbreaking decisions between investing in the future of their children and just heating their homes.”

Hansel, an executive at the family business Filtrine Manufacturing in Keene, still needs to convince GOP primary voters he’s the best choice to take out Kuster and he’s got a big hurdle: winning a Republican primary in the era of Trump.

“I’m the only conservative running,” said Bob Burns of Pembroke, an outspoken Trump supporter who is running in the Second District GOP primary along with another far-right Republican, Lily Tang Williams.

Burns has not wasted any time going after Hansel, tweeting Tuesday, “I’d like to welcome woke BLM activist and mask mandater @GeorgeHansel to the #nh02 Republican primary race!”

Burns says Hansel is to his left on abortion, and he criticizes the mayor for attending a Black Lives Matter rally in Keene and supporting a mask mandate. He said Hansel is just like Kuster when it comes to welcoming federal dollars for projects in Keene.

While Hansel did attend a Black Lives Matter rally in the summer of 2020 during the unrest following the murder of George Floyd, he has maintained he was there to talk to protestors and learn their concerns. He was at the rally with Cheshire City Sheriff Eli Rivera and Keene police officials.

Keene’s mask mandate ended in February when Hansel voted to break the tie. As mayor, Hansel can only vote to break ties under the city charter. Hansel says that while he supported people wearing masks if they choose, he thought the city-imposed mandate was too divisive.

Political analysts say the race is shaping up as a classic case of party purity vs. winnability. The district has tilted more to the left than the state as a whole for years. Even when it did elect Republicans, they were moderates like Charlie Bass and Judd Gregg. The Granite State GOP base remains solidly conservative and supportive of President Donald Trump, polls show.

Burns rejects the argument that he is too conservative to win in November. (Tang Williams did not respond to requests for comment). “Annie is barely in the district,” Burns said, a complaint often heard from Granite Staters on both sides of the aisle.

Kuster’s team did not respond to a request for comment.

Hansel’s team sees his opportunity as running as a “George Hansel Republican,” who focuses on the issues important to the voters. As for “energizing the base,” Hansel supporters note the most popular Republican in the state was at his event to endorse him: Chris Sununu.

Sununu thinks Hansel has a good shot.

“The polls say it all, 53 percent of people in this district want someone else to have a chance at Congress and George is the one to do it,” Sununu said.

Keene Mayor George Hansel has yet to announce his candidacy in New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District race, and he has already been targeted by a political dirty trick.

The Keene Sentinel ran a story on Sunday declaring, “Keene Mayor George Hansel announces run for Congress.” It was based on “a tweet from his new campaign account.” The paper did not speak to Hansel.

Less than 24 hours later, the Sentinel pulled the report and posted a correction: “A story written by The Sentinel and posted on our website Sunday evening claiming that Keene Mayor George Hansel would be running for the N.H. Congressional District 2 seat, currently held by longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, has been removed.”

The account, @Hansel4Congress, became active in just the past few days and it followed news outlets like NHJournal. Its few posts featured anti-Trump and pro-abortion messages likely to hurt a candidate’s efforts in a Republican primary, a sign that it was a political dirty trick. Sources familiar with the account tell NHJournal it was created by a Republican who opposes a Hansel candidacy.

On Monday, the account had been suspended by Twitter.

Hansel’s actual Twitter account had no mention of a potential congressional bid as of Monday afternoon. However, the Federal Election Commission reports the “George Hansel for Congress” committee was formally created on Friday, May 27. The treasurer is listed as David Hansel.

Republican insiders have been buzzing for weeks about the possibility Hansel might challenge Democrat Kuster, particularly since businessman Jeff Cozzens dropped out of the GOP primary in April. With polls showing President Joe Biden’s approval rating below 40 percent — and Kuster not doing much better — Republicans believe a 2022 wave could be big enough to bring down the five-term incumbent, despite her $2.4 million war chest.

After the GOP’s surprising successes in the 2021 election cycle, the National Republican Congressional Committee put Kuster on its expanded target list.

Hansel did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the FEC filing. He was first elected mayor of Keene in 2019 and had easy re-election in November, facing no serious challengers. Before becoming mayor of the left-leaning college community, Hansel was a two-term city councilor. He is currently vice president and manager of innovation/engineering and Keene’s Filtrine Manufacturing Company, a business founded by his uncle, Peter Hansel.

Because the lines of New Hampshire’s new congressional districts have yet to be finalized for November’s election, political analysts at organizations like the Cook Political Report have not released their view of the Second District’s midterm prospects. No Republican presidential candidate has won in the district this century, and the last Republican to represent the district was Rep. Charlie Bass, who won in the 2010 red wave midterm.

Hansel positioned himself as fiscally responsible in his first term as mayor. He pushed for an economic development action plan for the city and the creation of a home weatherization/renovation program for Keene’s eastside homes through a public/private partnership, according to his campaign. He also lobbied for the adoption of RSA 79E that allows Keene businesses to take advantage of New Hampshire’s development incentives.

He has also supported the Black Lives Matter movement and maintained a local mask mandate after the state order expired — positions likely to be problematic in a GOP primary.

Already in the race are Bob Burns and Lily Tang Williams.