Primaries: Ex-Trump staffer wins GOP nomination in New Hampshire

Sept. 13 (UPI) -- A staffer in former President Donald Trump's administration, beat an ex-Trump adviser to win the Republican nomination for a House seat in New Hampshire on Tuesday night in the nation's final round of primary elections.

New Hampshire held a trio of congressional races, including the battle between former Trump staffers Matt Mowers and Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt, 25, won with 34.6% of the vote over Mowers 25.3%, according to NBC News and The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island voted on candidates for governor and the House of Representatives.

Delaware's House primary, also scheduled for Tuesday, was canceled and incumbent Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester will face Republican Lee Murphy in a repeat of the 2020 House race.

New Hampshire

Leavitt, a former White House press aide to Trump, beat Mowers, a former adviser to the former president, to challenge Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas for New Hampshire's 1st House District in November.

Neither candidate received an endorsement from Trump and they each took different approaches in their efforts to align their campaigns with the former president.

Mowers' campaign adopted the Trump election slogan of "Drain the Swamp" and featured a page on "Election Integrity," although he has said President Joe Biden received the most votes in the 2020 presidential election despite calling for audits.

Leavitt, however, has said she believes the 2020 presidential election "was undoubtedly stolen from President Trump" and called for Biden to be impeached, citing border security.

"Our homegrown, grassroots, America First campaign prevailed. We won tonight," Leavitt said in her victory speech. "More than one year ago, I got into this race with no name recognition, no money but a passion and a drive to fight for my home state of New Hampshire against the socialist Democrats who are destroying our country."

Mowers conceded defeat in a short statement, saying he will continue to fight for middle-class families.

"I got into this race to give a voice to those Granite Staters who felt left behind by the political class in Washington and to restore American strength and leadership around the world. Unfortunately, tonight's results did not go our way," he said.

In the 2nd District, Robert Burns was leading in the Republican race early Wednesday with 32.6% of the vote over George Hansel, with 30.8%, to challenge Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster in November.

The two candidates have taken opposing stances on abortion, a hot-button issue after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, with Hansel, the mayor of the city of Keene, leaning in favor of allowing legal abortion, and Burns, the former treasurer of Hillsborough County, opposing it.

Voters also cast ballots in a race to see who will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, who has also aligned with Trump's false claims about the stolen election, was leading with 37% of the vote over state Senate President Chuck Morse, who held 36%.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who sought re-election despite polling favoring him to win the Senate race, called Bolduc a "conspiracy-theory type" and endorsed Morse.

Rhode Island

The gubernatorial race was the main attraction in Rhode Island's primary, with Gov. Dan McKee winning the Democratic nomination Tuesday night to challenge for a full term after taking over for Gina Raimondo, who was appointed to Biden's Cabinet in 2021.

Preliminary results show McKee, who was Raimondo's lieutenant governor, beat four challengers in the Democratic primary with 32.8% of the vote, despite criticism over his storm management and handling of COVID-19 vaccines.

McKee's top challengers included Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, who had 26.1%, and Helena Foulkes, a former CVS Health executive, with 30.1%.

Gorbea congratulated McKee in a brief statement on Twitter.

"With so much on the line right now, we need to make sure you win in Nov.," she said.

Voters also cast ballots to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin. Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner was declared the winner in that race Tuesday.

Magaziner won with 54% of the vote over former Commerce Department lawyer Sarah Morgenthau, who had 12%, and former state Rep. David Segal, with 16.1%.

Magaziner will face off former Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, the lone Republican in the race, in November's general election.