NEW HAMPSHIRE’S long-serving Secretary of State, who is a Democrat, has come out swinging against the highest priority of the new Democratic Congress.
It’s customary for a new Congress to designate “House Resolution 1” for that session’s big, must-pass legislation. In this case, H.R. 1 is called the For the People Act. It is a massive overhaul of federal election laws, essentially federalizing every election in the country. H.R. 1 would nullify much of New Hampshire’s election laws and even parts of our state constitution.
Bill Gardner has spent a lifetime overseeing and protecting New Hampshire election traditions; quite literally, in fact. He first assumed his office in 1976. He is now calling out Democrats in Washington for their effort to big foot the Granite State.
Gardner set off a neutron bomb in an interview with Michael Graham of NH Journal when he said, “This goes against our state constitution. Not just our election laws, but our constitution.”
“Thirty-eight years ago in the month of October 1983, Nancy Pelosi came to the New Hampshire State House and the Secretary of State’s office on a mission to take the first-in-the-nation presidential primary away from the people of New Hampshire,” Gardner said in a subsequent statement. “Speaker Pelosi is once again attacking our state by using federal authority through H.R. 1 by rendering articles of our own state constitution null and void.”
In addition, he argued “the right to free and fair elections” was at stake and called out the current congressional delegation for going along with H.R. 1.
“Thirty-eight years ago all four members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation, and state leaders in both parties, were united in their opposition, and defended New Hampshire from the Pelosi presidential primary punch. Unfortunately, this time all four of the state’s congressional delegation are not supporting provisions of our New Hampshire Constitution. They should answer the question, why?” Gardner said.
“Our state constitution requires the total votes counted for each candidate, for each office on the ballot, be publicly declared by the moderator at each polling place the night of the election after the polls close. Not the next day, or week or more as the proposed H.R. 1 would dictate,” he said.
He pointed out that New Hampshire, with our strong preference for in-person voting, “has had the third highest voter turnout in the country for each of the last four presidential elections” and contrasted that with Pelosi’s California, which has ranked 46th, 49th, 49th and 43rd for turnout in those same elections.
Worst of all, Gardner postulated that if the current Congress can steamroll New Hampshire’s constitution, it certainly can negate our state law positioning the Granite State as the First in the Nation primary state.
This is heavy stuff from a man known for his sober judgement with no history of political hyperbole. What’s going on?
H.R. 1 is part of a larger liberal experiment to shatter the guardrails of American democracy and establish permanent one-party dominance. This experiment also includes D.C. statehood (instantly securing two new Democratic senators), eliminating the filibuster (which Democrats used liberally during the last Congress), and packing the U.S. Supreme Court, among other terrible ideas. This experiment betrays the modern Left’s fundamental distaste for American federalism and basic fairness. Strong reactions from principled men and women are to be expected.
Speaking of fairness, it must be said that Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan are not fully on board with the whole of this experiment. But like their colleagues in the House, Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas, they are enthusiastically supportive of H.R. 1, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives with zero Republican votes. Its future in the Senate is uncertain.
For now, the measure allows Republicans to question the loyalties of New Hampshire’s federal delegation.
“Sadly, New Hampshire Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan helped introduce this bill in the Senate, which will undoubtedly have a major adverse effect on her state,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee said in a statement last week. “In fact, her outward support for this legislation is intended to strip power out of the hands of New Hampshire’s legislature and give it to Washington liberals.”
Republican Matt Mowers, who ran for Congress in 2020 and who many expect to make another run for federal office, took aim at Sen. Hassan and Rep. Pappas.
“Maggie Hassan and Chris Pappas clearly have more faith in Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi than they do New Hampshire’s Secretary of State and our local election officials. As Secretary Bill Gardner has said, Hassan and Pappas’ brazen attempts to cater to Pelosi and the far left will jeopardize New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status, which would eliminate our voice in the national political dialogue,” he said.
If New Hampshire’s Senators continue to back H.R. 1, they will be choosing their party’s power brokers in Washington over the people of the Granite State.
