By AARON R. DAVIS, InDepthNH.org
Verbal shots were fired in a battle of the business owners at the Republican Primary WMUR debate for the U.S. House of Representatives First Congressional District on Wednesday night. Heading into the debate, Trump-endorsed business owner Anthony DiLorenzo held the lead over competitors, Hollie Noveletsky and Brian Cole, but a two-on-one brawl over immigration landed sharp attacks on the frontrunner.
The biggest exchange came 25 minutes in when candidates were asked about the steep divide in the country over the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. DiLorenzo took a tough line, arguing the law is clear and the answer is deportation and that enforcement should “prioritize dangerous people first over people working and paying taxes.”
It was a stronger stance than DiLorenzo had taken in January on the Granite Discourse podcast. DiLorenzo was asked by host Mike Belcher, “How do we deal with the people that come here illegally?”
DiLorenzo said that violent criminals and felons “need to go” but that “if somebody’s paying taxes, they’re not a convicted felon, they’re contributing to society, I don’t mind having a pathway.”
Cole took the first shot, following with “Unlike DiLorenzo, I do support our laws, he said illegal aliens should have a pathway to citizenship.”
Moderators allowed DiLorenzo a response and he said Cole wasn’t right, that he supported deportation. The questions moved on to how much of the economy should be reliant on non-citizen workers and DiLorenzo argued for reforming the immigration system.
“We should be looking at economic needs, what needs to be filled. If Americans are unwilling or unable to fill those jobs, we should be looking to fill the jobs the companies need.”
Despite the pivot, Noveletsky kept at DiLorenzo over his past statements.
“Unlike Anthony, who is on Granite Discourse, if they are working, came here illegally, they should have a path — I don’t believe that.”
Noveletsky made sure to reinforce it in her closing statement, alluding to “whether we are consistent or flip-flop, you need to know where we stand.”
Sparks also flew when moderators introduced a question on the Protect Child Innocence Act, which made it a federal crime to provide gender transition care for minors, DiLorenzo had set a stance that the issue should be up to the states.
“I always support states’ rights over federal intervention. We do things much better here in New Hampshire than at the federal level. Our balanced budget here is a perfect example.”
Noveletsky pounced, arguing that she supported enforcement at a federal level and that we “need to protect our children.”
Though he took swipes, DiLorenzo returned to composure in the second half of the debate, leaning on his business acumen and endorsement from President Trump as evidence he was best positioned to beat a Democrat in November.
Noveletsky’s strongest moments came straight out of the gate as she established the clearest thematic answer of the night that would be echoed by both candidates. On the question of helping out Granite Staters struggling with inflation, she avoided the common answers and delivered an answer on infrastructure investment.
While DiLorenzo leaned on his Trump-endorsement and Noveletsky leaned on being a veteran and nurse practitioner, Cole differentiated himself as the only legislator running and that he could “hit the ground running.” He leaned heavily on supporting nuclear power and energy regulatory issues, criticizing regional transmission organization ISO-NE, and securing our northern border with Canada with military drones.
An interesting point came when moderators asked candidates which firearms they own and what firearm laws they would repeal.
“I’ve never voted for any red flag laws, but have too many guns to mention in one minute,” Cole said before brightening. “I recently bought myself a .50 caliber, beautiful gun. Fun to shoot.”
Noveletsky mentioned her Sig Sauer P365 Rose with a red dot sight and that she would like to see universal carry implemented. DiLorenzo said he had a “fair amount of firearms, handguns, shotguns, rifles and I do not support red flag laws.”
Undecideds are still the largest pool of answers in both UNH and Saint Anselm surveys from mid-August, and the race is still close between DiLorenzo and Noveletsky who are statistically tied as of the most recent UNH polling.
https://scholars.unh.edu/survey_center_polls/988/
On Thursday, both the First and Second Congressional District races for the Democrats will air. On Friday, WMUR will air the U.S. Senate Democratic debate.
For the first time in recent history, there will be no U.S. Senate Republican debate between the two primary opponents. Former U.S. Sen. John Sununu declined to debate with opponent former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown of Rye.