MANCHESTER, N.H. – With 14 weeks left until New Hampshire voters head to the polls for the state and federal election, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) came to the Queen City on Friday to issue several warnings for assembled Republican phone bank volunteers.
Joined by New Hampshire GOP Chairman Stephen Stepanek, GOP First Congressional Candidate Matt Mowers and GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Corky Messner, Cotton reminded the assembled crowd of volunteers of their importance in the upcoming election and how hard they would have to work, saying that Democrats see the election as a “battle for the soul of America.”
He elaborated that after Democrats no longer had control of both houses of Congress and the White House in 2010, they developed a hatred of the American people to the point where they would seek permanent control if they ever held such control ever again; a penchant only galvanized by a dislike of Donald Trump.
Here, he pointed to Barack Obama advocating the removal of U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule during John Lewis’ funeral, publicly funded elections, statehood for the District of Columbia and Supreme Court appointments.
Cotton also criticized mail-in voting, and New York State’s recent efforts at mail-in voting in particular, referring to it as “mail-out” voting compared to absentee voting, stating that the main difference between the two came from individuals requesting the latter.
In light of the pandemic, Cotton said he supported efforts to make voting safer, but declined to support making election day a national holiday, indicating that and all measures should be decided at the state level.
In regard to the pandemic as a whole, Cotton noted after the event that he does not see COVID-19 as a partisan issue and urged Americans to wear masks and exercise prudence, laying blame for the pandemic with China.
“No American deserves this virus and the people responsible for this virus are in Beijing, for unleashing a very infectious disease on the world,” he said.
Cotton also warned members of the audience that unified control of Congress and the White House by the Democrats would also have a severe impact on the Second Amendment.
“If they get their hands on power and they eliminate the filibuster, which Barack Obama said at a eulogy yesterday, they’re not going to stop at passing a law that says ‘oh, we have to have more background checks at gun shows,’ or ‘oh, we have to have a background check if you sell your shotgun to your neighbor,’ you don’t understand the scope of their ambition,” he said. “They’re not even going to pass laws that say you can no longer manufacture or sell firearms like an AR-15 or other semi-automatic rifles. They’re going to say you cannot own them. They’re going to say you cannot possess them. And they’re going to turn all of you into criminals overnight unless you give your firearms to them.”
Following the event, Cotton also reiterated his support for a bill that would prohibit federal funds from being used to include the New York Times’ 1619 Project into school curricula, stating that it indicated that America was founded upon slavery rather than freedom.
“It’s not surprising me that the radical left, that’s invested so deeply in this project and has such antipathy for America has reacted so strongly to me,” said Cotton. “All I’m saying is that tax dollars should not go toward hating our country.”
