Jaws were agape last week among political onlookers in New Hampshire’s first district (Manchester) following the latest poll on its congressional race.
According to the University of New Hampshire poll, Republican challenger and former Donald Trump campaign aide Matt Mowers is leading freshman Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas district wide by 50 to 48 percent
These figures are so startling because the New Jersey-born Mowers only came to the state five years ago to work on then-Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
When Christie fizzled, Mowers boarded the “Trump Train,” and, following Trump’s election, joined the U.S. State Department in Washington DC. Now 31, he won the Republican nomination for Congress in the 1st in a major upset.
“Mowers has had very tough TV against Pappas,” former State Attorney General Tom Rath told Newsmax, “Pappas has come across as a weaker personality- and it's one of the most flippable House districts in the US. Were Pappas to win, it would be the first time this century that a party controlled that seat for three consecutive terms.”
Specifically, Mowers’ TV spots alleged that Pappas has had a “relationship” (Pappas is openly gay) with a man who is a Washington DC lobbyist for Amazon that emerged while Pappas was on a committee overseeing legislation that had impact on Amazon. Pappas at first denied it vehemently and then two days later admitted it was true. Mowers ran TV ads showing the lobbyist.
In his races for lower office and for Congress two years ago, Pappas’s sexual orientation has never been a problem for voters. But the denial then admission and the pictures In Mower’s TV salvos have clearly made this a horserace.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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