Senator Hassan won a definitive victory during the WMUR debate last night. Senator Hassan “repeatedly cast Bolduc as an extremist, pouncing on his past statements on abortion, voter fraud and other issues.”
Meanwhile, Don Bolduc was “combative” when “confronted with his past statements” about abortion. Bolduc was seen “attacking the debate panel a couple of times” and gave the moderator “a sarcastic response” when asked about his record of election denial. He also “came up short, declining to name one” world leader he admired.
Read coverage of the debate below:
WCVB Boston: “Bolduc combative, even attacking the debate panel”
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“We saw challenger Don Bolduc combative, even attacking the debate panel a couple of times. This is a really tight race, and the U.S. Senate is at stake. […] Afterward only the incumbent faced the media.
Associated Press: Hassan, Bolduc meet for final debate in key U.S. Senate race
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In their third and final debate before next Tuesday’s election, Hassan repeatedly cast Bolduc as an extremist, pouncing on his past statements on abortion, voter fraud and other issues.
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Bolduc, a retired Army general, spent months promoting Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election but after winning the Republican primary in September said it wasn’t stolen and then, more recently, said that he wasn’t sure. And in a debate last week, he brought up unfounded claims about busloads of voters casting illegal ballots in New Hampshire, which Trump himself mentioned in endorsing Bolduc on Monday.
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Asked to explain Wednesday why his position keeps changing, Bolduc insisted it hasn’t. “I have said on 14 September, it was not stolen. That’s it. I’m not discussing it anymore,” he said. “We need to move forward. Elections are about the future, and if we leave the future in Sen. Hassan’s hands, we’re going to be in big trouble.”
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Asked what she thought of his answer, Hassan called him “the most extreme nominee for U.S. Senate that New Hampshire has seen in modern history.” “He keeps trying to conceal that from Granite Staters,” said Hassan, a former governor seeking a second term in Washington. “He’s spent over a year in New Hampshire stoking the big lie… and former President Trump just confirmed that he’s an election denier this week.”
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That prompted a sarcastic response from Bolduc, who thanked the WMUR-TV moderator for “giving her a softball because she can’t hit a fastball.” He did not object, earlier, however, when he similarly was asked to opine on one of Hassan’s answers.
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On abortion, Bolduc again was confronted with his past statements. While he now says he opposes a national abortion ban, in the past he has said would never oppose anti-abortion legislation (“I’m not going to vote contrary to pro-life”).
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But Hassan argued he can’t be trusted given his conflicting statements. “He is a yes vote for a nationwide abortion ban and he’s trying to conceal it,” she said.
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