By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

MANCHESTER – National border security, the economy and inflation were among the issues that three of the 13 candidates for the Republican primary in the Congressional District 2 race got a chance to debate before a live television audience in a WMUR debate Thursday night.

Lily Tang Williams of Weare, Vikram Mansharamani of Lincoln and Bill Hamlen of Hanover made the criteria for the televised debate, leaving out candidates Tom Alciere of Hudson, Paul Wagner of Danbury, Gerard Beloin of Colebrook, Jason Riddle of Keene, Michael Anthony Callis of Conway, Jay Mercer of Nashua, Randall Clark of Hollis, William Harvey of Colebrook, Casey Crane of Nashua, and Robert Darcy of Stoddard.

All 13 are looking to fill the vacated seat held by Democrat Anne McLane Kuster of Hopkinton who is not seeking re-election.

She has endorsed Democrat Colin Van Ostern of Concord who is vying for the Democratic the nomination with Maggie Goodlander of Nashua and they held a debate following the Republicans Thursday night.

The primary is Sept. 10 and the winners of both races will head to the general election in November.

All three conservative Republican candidates who got the chance to debate come from a business background.

The questioning began on housing migrants.

Asked what policies the candidates would do to protect New Hampshire, Williams said she is a legal immigrant and visited the Northern borders. She said her brothers had to wait in China a long time to come here. She said she is very strong on border security. 

“My top two issues are border security and inflation,” she said.

Mansharamani is an economist who holds a doctorate degree and a commercial driver’s license.

He said secure borders require the use of a wall and a commitment to get this done to protect the country from drugs and other problems.

“There is a reason people want to come to America,” he said.

Hamlen, who is a Dartmouth College graduate, said since the Biden Administration took over, more people are dying from drug overdoses due to the border insecurity.

“The open border is an absolute crisis,” Hamlen said.

Inflation was another question for the three. Ideas?

Mansharamani said, “drill baby drill, we need more energy.” He said the cost of diesel impacts everything that he knows from being a CDL driver.

Williams said what she is hearing from people is the costs of living. She said we need to bring down the national debt and “stop printing money.”

Hamlen said Biden declared war on energy and the first thing we should do is free up energy.

He noted former President Donald Trump has promoted gas from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire and “I think it is an easy win.”

Housing costs were also discussed.

Asked what legislation they would promote, Hamlen said it is the high mortgage rates which have to come down to help buyers.

Mansharamani said an infrastructure bill which actually worked would help. Interest rates will incentivize investments.

“We need to build baby, build,” he said.

Williams said demand and supply should rule. 

“But we don’t have enough supply,” she said. 

Abortion was another issue and all agreed that this should not be at the federal level.

But Hamlen said as a father of two daughters, he said there should be compassion and empathy and the state has “reasonable” exceptions. He said each state is different. He said he would not advocate for anything more restrictive than New Hampshire’s laws.

Williams said “we love local control” but she would not vote at the federal level at all on abortion.

“I want to show compassion,” she said. But she said she works to “help women to choose life.”

Mansharamani said as a representative in Washington, he should support the state’s law, “because I am representing the state.”

On gun violence he said we should get at the root causes of such violence but he noted that there needs to be more attention paid to social media and the warnings from potential perpetrators. 

“We need to not stigmatize getting help,” he said.

Williams said gun control is not the answer, though her heart breaks for the innocent children and teachers harmed by gun violence.

Hamlen said he cannot imagine the pain of families but noted that law enforcement had been aware and said this was a “tragic failure” but it is a mental health issue rather than a Second Amendment one.

Asked about certifying the election and former President Donald Trump’s prior complaint, two said they would block certification if it happens again. 

Williams said it depends.

She said some people can get fake identification to vote.