Ayotte could face primary challenger

newhampshire.com ^ | 11/3/15

[cotton1706]

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, could face a primary challenger from her right flank.

Conservative Republicans will privately muster in Concord on Wednesday to consider possible candidate options.

State Rep. Bill O'Brien, a Mont Vernon Republican who won a past term as New Hampshire Speaker of the House with Tea Party support, could emerge as one such challenger. O'Brien would not rule it out, should conservatives rally around him as a potential candidate, according to WMUR, which first reported the conservative conclave.

O'Brien said earlier this year that he would not seek another term in the state House, and that he was focusing on his business interests.

Rep. Steve Stepanek, R-Amherst, told the Union Leader on Tuesday he is withholding support for Ayotte while considering options, including the discussion set to occur Wednesday. He plans to be there.

"The more I see her the less impressed I am with her," he said.

A "Draft Bill O'Brien for U.S. Senate" page on Facebook, which Aaron Day created, has more than 500 likes. Day, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, said in a phone interview with the Union Leader that Ayotte has alienated the GOP base. Day said an intra-party disconnect that exists would only get worse If the New Hampshire Legislature, in which Republicans currently have the majority, passes an extension in Medicaid expansion.

[cotton1706]

Ayotte (NH) - 2016 - 45% (Average) - 41% (CReview) - 29% (Heritage) - 60% (CFG) - 63% (ACU) - 33% (FreedomWorks)

[Salvey]

Good. Retire her so that she will find the time to get her voice fixed.

[major-pelham]

She pissed everyone off here with her baloney climate change crap, and running around with McLame and Grahamnesty. If Hassan beats her it would be like getting a senator Obama from NH. Damn shame given that Gordon Humphrey and Bob Smith had that seat in the past.

[grania]

Prediction....that challenger’s going to get a whole lot of small donations from fed up constitutional conservatives across the nation.

[rrrod]

She ran as Tea Party then as soon as she landed started hanging around McCain and Graham....throw her out. Now we need to primary lil dickie burr in NC!

[EverRight]

Ain’t that the truth! I am hoping Rep. Mark Meadows will run against him. Burr is a disgrace to the Tarhill State!

[nathanbedford]

If we lose this primary we are expected to shut up and support Kelly Ayotte in the general election and support her should she win for six years suffering betrayal after betrayal after betrayal. I say, any insurgent who competes with her in the primaries for the nomination must commit if unsuccessful to run as a third-party candidate against her, thus assuring her loss. Yes, it opens us to the charge that we are dividing the party and inviting a loss but we can look them in the eye and say, ours is the only moral position.

It is immoral to condone a turncoat Senator such as Kelly Ayotte and it is ultimately self-defeating to permit these Rino Republicans to believe that they can behave as Democrats in Washington and run as conservatives at home.

These rinos should be far more afraid of us than they are of K St., Wall Street, or Madison Avenue. They must understand that even if they can prevail in a primary we will take them down in the general. A bit of pain suffered now to rid ourselves of these pesky turncoats will pay dividends for generations of senators to come. They should work for the electorate not against it, not deceive it, not sacrifice it to elitism.

We owe Kelly Ayotte nothing and we owe the Rino Republican establishment nothing.

[CASchack]

We owe Kelly Ayotte nothing and we owe the Rino Republican establishment nothing

I agree. I will vote for O'Brien or any challenger to Ayotte in the primary. I will not hold my nose for any candidate in 2016.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Ayotte turned into a Democrat in an R jersey like McCain as soon as she got to Washington. Time to Cantorize her.

[Jim Noble]

Her latest email contains all the Democrat legislation she’s co-sponsoring to fix the heroin “epidemic”.

Needless to say, the net of all the bills is to increase “funding” to tax-fattened hyenas who never have enough.

I fear, though, that it will come down to her or Hassan.

[Paine in the Neck]

Prediction....that challenger’s going to get a whole lot of small donations from fed up constitutional conservatives across the nation.

I'll be looking very closely at this and other similar cases where a lapsed/fraudulent TP candidate is getting primaried. There must be consequences for such backsliding.

[556x45]

Ah you remember Gordon. I liked him...a lot! Anymore NH doesnt have guys like him in govt. Most are just flaks looking out for their own career.

[Stentor]

Most are just flaks looking out for their own career.

Is "career" a euphemism for taking envelopes filled with cash?

[Gratia]

Yes!

[Lopeover]

Good. She needs to go.

[Din Maker]

The little slut that challenged Trump in a Town Hall meeting about being able to choose what to do with her body, works for Sen. Ayotte and was a PLANT from the Bush Campaign. I hope that liberal b**ch is defeated soundly in the GOP Primary.

[Rummyfan]

Dump the RINO!

[Night Hides Not]

We owe Kelly Ayotte nothing and we owe the Rino Republican establishment nothing.

I owe it to my children, my grandson, nieces, and nephews to send the Republican establishment to the showers.

[golf lover]

NH is now a large suburb of MA!

[Ancesthntr]

Please, G-d, in the merit of all of the good that the American people have done over the past 239 years to benefit humanity, free the oppressed, give charity to widows, orphans, the sick and the hungry, and for their adherence to your laws (most of the time), we beseech you to save us from that damage to our Republic created and continued by allegedly Republican, female Senators from New England...and Bob Corker, engineer of the law that overturned the Senate’s treaty power under the Constitution.