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National Republicans are renewing financial support for surging New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc in the closing weeks of the 2022 midterm election cycle as Democrats have begun hustling to hold onto the party's dissipating advantages in various battleground states across the country.
On Wednesday, Axios reported that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) planned to recommit $1 million resources into the New Hampshire race, replacing an estimated $5.6 million in funding that the Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund planned to recommit to a tightening contest in Pennsylvania between Mehmet Oz and his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman.
The investment represents a renewed show of confidence by the party in Bolduc, who was previously seen as an underdog in his bid to unseat Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan, at a time when both parties are injecting unprecedented sums into their efforts to control Congress.
On Tuesday, CNN reported that President Joe Biden had directed the Democratic National Committee to transfer $10 million to its House and Senate campaign committees along with an additional $8 million in fundraising over the next several weeks as Republican-aligned groups have focused the brunt of their spending on races in states like Arizona, where Republican candidate Blake Masters was on the receiving end of nearly $1 million in new funding from a Donald Trump-aligned super PAC this week.
Meanwhile, liberal groups like Emily's List have had their attentions diverted to races once considered to be layups for Democrats. Last week, the super PAC Women Vote diverted $2.4 million to prop up Democratic Senator Patty Murray in her competitive race in Washington state along with six-figure receipts in more competitive races like Nevada, where Republican Adam Laxalt represents one of Republicans' strongest prospects to flip a seat. Biden notably won Washington state by 20 points in 2020.
The Bolduc investment also underscores a recent surge in GOP momentum in the closing weeks of the campaign. Recent polling has shown Bolduc closing the gap between himself and Hassan over the last month, with the Democrat's lead now reduced to about six points from a near-double-digit high just four weeks ago.
"Our polling, along with recent public polling, shows that this race is in the
margin of error and winnable," NRSC Chairman Rick Scott said in a statement Wednesday. "The NRSC is proud to stand with General Bolduc. We're going to win this race so Don Bolduc can bring real leadership back to this Senate seat."
Meanwhile, an Emerson College poll on Monday showed Bolduc virtually tied with Hassan just two weeks before Election Day—a stunning turnaround from a September survey showing Hassan with an 11-point advantage.
Bolduc's campaign has notably been plagued with fundraising issues as well, even as the candidate has sought to walk back controversial opinions on issues like the outcome of the 2020 election (he has said it was "stolen," and has waffled on that position) and legalized abortion, stating his support for state-level restrictions over federal ones.
But in a campaign season in which nearly every state has become a battleground state, the bigger story might be the national context of the race. The same Emerson poll on Monday showed Biden in a dead heat with Trump in a hypothetical 2024 rematch, indicating a divided electorate in a state considered to be widely representative of a political party's momentum nationally.
About the writer
Nick Reynolds is a senior politics reporter at Newsweek. A native of Central New York, he previously worked as a ... Read more