New Hampshire primary voters to pick candidates for short but intense general election campaigns

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire primary voters are picking candidates for governor, Congress and the entire state Legislature on Tuesday, setting the stage for short but intense general election campaigns.

In contrast to its first-in-the-nation presidential primary, New Hampshire is among the last states to hold state-level primary elections, leaving the winners just eight weeks to woo voters before Nov. 5.

Two of the top races are extra competitive, with no incumbent running. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s decision not to seek a fifth two-year term means the position is open for the first time since 2016. And the 2nd Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster is retiring after six terms, has not been an open seat since 2010.

Six candidates are competing in the Republican gubernatorial primary, led by former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte and former state Senate president Chuck Morse. The other candidates are Shaun Fife, Robert McClory, Richard McMenamon and Frank Staples.

Ayotte, who was also New Hampshire’s first female attorney general, would be the third woman to be elected governor, following Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan. Much of her campaign centered on “Don’t Mass it up,” an anti-Massachusetts slogan, as she focused more on crime and immigration issues and less on traditional anti-tax rhetoric.

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