NH Primary Source: Stepanek ‘endorses’ Buckley for NHDP chair
BACKING BUCKLEY. A few days after being reelected as state Republican Party chair for another two years, Steve Stepanek was clearly in a good mood. He decided to weigh in, with just a bit of sarcasm, on the pending New Hampshire Democratic Party election between longtime chair Raymond Buckley and challenger Emmett Soldati.
Voting by NHDP members is scheduled to begin by email today and voting will continue until 11:59 p.m. Saturday. Only Democratic State Committee members are eligible to vote, so that leaves Stepanek out.
But he couldn’t resist a little bit of snark in his Monday statement. (LINK to tweet)
“After his 2020 efforts led to Republicans retaining the (governor’s) office and flipping the New Hampshire Legislature and Executive Council, Ray Buckley absolutely deserves another term as chairman of the New Hampshire Democrats in my view,” said Stepanek.
“Chairman Buckley’s decision to spend millions of dollars on ineffective television ads to prop up failed gubernatorial candidate Dan Feltes while abandoning support for down-ballot Democrat candidates for State House, Senate and Executive Council provided great assistance in our strategic efforts to flip control of New Hampshire state government while re-electing Gov. Chris Sununu with 65 percent of the vote.
“In fact, New Hampshire was the only state in the nation in which both legislative bodies flipped in 2020 -- something that would not have been possible without Chairman Buckley’s leadership of the New Hampshire Democrats. As New Hampshire Democrats begin to vote in their divisive officer’s election between establishment Ray Buckley and socialist Emmett Soldati, we look forward to seeing which New Hampshire Democrat emerges to carry their pro-Income tax banner and secure Sen. Maggie Hassan’s defeat in 2022.”
Former NHDP chair Kathy Sullivan, a Buckley supporter, responded on Twitter: “The effort by the NHGOP to help Chairman Buckley 's opponent for New Hampshire Democratic chair is pretty transparent and confirms that voting for Ray Buckley is the right thing to do.”