MANCHESTER, NH – The last major debate before the election between U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, and Republican Donald Bolduc was held Wednesday night with the stakes high and the differences many.
From support for Ukraine to abortion, to lowering medical costs and energy independence the two sparred with Bolduc vowing to be the outsider in Washington, and Hassan promising to bring both sides there together to forge solutions.
BACKGROUNDS
Bolduc was born and raised in Laconia. His father, Armand, worked at the local hardware store and was a farmer who was a Laconia City Councilor for 34 years. Bolduc enlisted in the United States Army, attended Salem State College, joined its ROTC program, and served 33 years in the Army, retiring as a brigadier general.
Bolduc has never served in elected public office. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2020 losing in the primary to Corky Messner in an unsuccessful bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat.
Bolduc is running as an outsider and a far-right extremist with endorsements from former President Donald Trump against a former state senator and two-term governor.
Hassan is running on a theme of bipartisan efforts in her last term, in which she won by only about 1,000 votes.
Hassan is a graduate of Brown University and Northeastern University School of Law. She was a state senator from 2005 to 2010 from Exeter, served as minority leader and became the 81st governor of New Hampshire, and served two terms from 2013 to 2017 before going on to the U.S. Senate.
The debate was broadcast on WMUR television from Saint Anselm College, moderated by Adam Sexton.
ABORTION
Asked if the issue is important, Bolduc said that it is, but it is a state issue and he would not get involved.
“That is the end that I have to say on it,” he said.
He said he promised he would not vote on any abortion issue in the U.S. Senate.
Hassan was asked about her limits to abortion rights. She said this is about a woman’s rights, her health, and safety and she said Bolduc is trying to conceal his record on the subject and referred to comments he made that the “gentlemen in the legislature” should decide this.
“It’s a lie,” Bolduc said. “I have no record. She has the record.”
He said, “I have a record of 33 years of honorable service” in the military.
Hassan said voters should go to bolducfacts.com to see his extremism.
Bolduc said later in the debate that the website was hers and intended to misrepresent him.
She said she has spoken with women across the state who have told her how the state abortion ban has affected them already. The state now has a ban after 24 weeks of gestation.
“It is truly out of step,” Hassan said. “This is about whether women are going to be pulled back,” she said and noted, “this one size fits all policy … threatens a woman’s freedom.”
Bolduc said that was “the finest career non-answer I have ever heard” and said Hassan supports abortion up to the end of pregnancy.
INFLATION
Asked if COVID-19 “rescue” spending cost too much and if it should have been a more targeted approach to avoid the sort of inflation now facing America, they had starkly different answers.
Hassan said inflation is constraining individuals and small businesses. She said she has taken actions to help reduce costs by standing up to the pharmaceutical industry and urging to drop the gas tax.
She said the Senate passed the infrastructure bill to lower costs and approved a measure to bring back manufacturing, and that Bolduc opposes those efforts.
Asked if he would have passed the COVID-19 relief programs, Bolduc said he would not have and that they were not necessary.
He said Hassan has caused the “heating and eating issues that we have.” Bolduc charged that Hassan has taken over half a million dollars from lobbyists.
Hassan said it is concerning that Bolduc would raise costs and not stand up to Big Pharma.
“He is trying to conceal his extreme positions,” Hassan said.
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
Bolduc suggested “opening the spigot of the pipelines,” to help increase domestic oil production.
He said Hassan has caused the problems in the state of people trying “to feed their children this winter.”
Hassan said, “He is singing big oil’s song,” and they have been jacking up prices at the pump and have record profits.
Bolduc agreed the prices are rising.
“She is hurting Granite Staters…taking money out of their pockets and they know it,” Bolduc said.
Hassan said she led a bipartisan push to get more home heating assistance and that assistance has gone up 30 percent from last year.
ROLE IN UKRAINE CONFLICT
Hassan said people there are giving their lives for Democracy and are standing up to a war criminal, Vladimir Putin.
Hassan said it is important that democracies stand strong and support them.
Bolduc said it is too late.
Bolduc said this nation’s withdrawal from Afghanistan empowered Russia because it showed this nation is weak and he blamed Hassan for that.
“Ukraine is a mess because we made it a mess,” he said. “We have nothing to do but watch.
“We need leaders in Washington to draw the line…and it will not happen” with Democrats in power, Bolduc said.
Hassan said she disagreed with the Biden Administration on “an arbitrary deadline for withdrawing from Afghanistan” but at the end of the day, America must maintain its primacy and help Ukraine.
BORDER ISSUES
Hassan said the first job of the government is to keep people safe. She said those who enter should be vetted appropriately and she has stood up to the Biden Administration on this matter.
“We have to have a safe, secure, and orderly border,” she said.
Bolduc said last time he checked the borders are not secure and, “This is not how we do borders.”
Hassan said she has voted repeatedly for more funding at the border and she said Bolduc knows that.
STOLEN ELECTION QUESTION
Bolduc was asked about his past comments that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
Was it stolen or not and why is your answer changing, he was asked.
Bolduc said, “We need to move forward. Our elections are about the future and if we are leaving it to Senator Hassan we are in trouble.”
Hassan said, “Don Bolduc is an extremist,” and the most in modern history and up until recently he has been “stoking the big lie,” that Trump won.
She referred to his comments that he wasn’t “switching horses baby” and has cast doubt on future votes and their accuracy.
“Thanks for giving her a softball,” Bolduc said, adding the future is what is important.
INFLATION REDUCTION ACT
Hassan said climate change is at the core of this new Inflation Reduction Act and she has heard from many residents, particularly on the Seacoast who are facing climate change issues.
The provisions, she said, are to get away from oil and take advantage of innovation and reduce carbon emissions.
Bolduc said he disagrees with the act and called it a tax increase on everybody.
“Come on, it’s career politician double-talk,” Bolduc said.
LIGHTING ROUNDS
What world leader do they admire?
Bolduc said he does not admire anyone.
Hassan said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenski.
What caused sticker shock at the market? Hassan said the cost of eggs.
Bolduc said she does not understand costs and that he has had to hold the hands of people who can’t afford their food.
The best president in the past 20 years?
Bolduc said, Trump.
Hassan said, Barack Obama.
Asked whether COVID-19 policies have helped or hurt their families, Hassan said, yes it helped, particularly for her son, Ben, who has cerebral palsy.
Bolduc said every restriction hurt his family and everyone else, too.
EDUCATION
Bolduc said children can’t read or do the math and it is Hassan’s fault because of COVID-19 policies.
Hassan said the education of children is the cornerstone of democracy.
She said Bolduc supports the elimination of the Department of Education which would decimate that effort and put Pell Grants at risk.
SEMICONDUCTORS ACT
Asked if manufacturers will return because of the new CHIPS act to allow more semiconductor manufacturing domestically, Hassan said it will help lower costs, add national security, and add to jobs, including a company in Hudson. And she said it concerns her that Bolduc does not support it.
Bolduc was asked if he would have supported the act and he said “no” because it was a bailout and said we need to bring all manufacturing back here.
SUPREME COURT
Asked what he would look for in a new Supreme Court nominee, he said he did not want them legislating from the bench.
Hassan said she is very concerned that a number of recent Supreme Court nominees said they would observe precedent while being interviewed and then they did not do that when it came to Roe v. Wade.
“Here she goes again,” Bolduc said. “She’s not bipartisan.”
FENTANYL
Why can’t the nation stop the problem of Fentanyl? Bolduc said because the U.S. has open borders.
Manchester, he said, is now a distribution center.
Hassan said she has been advocating for more technology and security at the border and confronted China over the commitments they made to reduce the problem.
Another issue is demand, she said. Hassan said she is looking for more prevention and treatment “and that way the cartels won’t have any business.”
TAXES
Bolduc charged Hassan is twisting the truth and said that “I will not raise taxes.”
Hassan as governor said she balanced two budgets.
She said Bolduc’s fair tax plan would increase the costs of rent, health care, and food.
“Here you go again,” Bolduc said.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Hassan said her thoughts and prayers are with Nancy and Paul Pelosi and their family after an attack at their San Francisco home last week.
Hassan said she has concerns about the rhetoric she hears which is so divided.
Bolduc said he thinks Hassan made some good points on that “but it is a sign of political problems that fuel people so that they are so upset” and said that “happened to me outside, just before I got in here, and it has to stop.”
CONCLUSIONS
Bolduc said people who live paycheck to paycheck can’t live comfortably.
“I am a political outsider,” Bolduc said and “will go to Washington to serve you.”
Hassan thanked all who tuned in and WMUR and the Institute for Politics at St. Anselm for hosting the debate.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime” to serve as a Senator from New Hampshire and she wants to continue to solve problems on the economy in the next six years.
Bolduc, she said, is an extremist who believes he can support an agenda that is not accountable.
She concluded by asking voters to support her.
