An update for Sullivan County Republican candidates

If you’re on the ballot this fall, you are going to be called a Free Stater. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve ever been to a Liberty Forum, moved here from Ohio, or can spell “Porcupine Freedom Festival.” The other side has settled on its 2026 message, and the message is you. This update lays out what they’re running, why they’re running it, and what you should have in your pocket when it lands on your doorstep in Claremont or Newport.

What they’re running

The Democrats’ allied network has spent the past year building the Free State Project into the centerpiece villain of the cycle. Jeanne Dietsch’s Granite State Matters has a book and a traveling slideshow (Who Are the Free Staters?). DemocracyNH kicked off the year with “NH is not your Free State Project!” (Feb. 22). Over a hundred protesters showed up outside the Liberty Forum in March (InDepthNH). The op-ed circuit is working the Lakes Region (InDepthNH, June 21), and when the House Speaker’s race opened up this month, Democratic Rep. Wendy Thomas reached for the same script — Free Staters have “driven priorities that don’t reflect the values of most New Hampshire families” (InDepthNH, July 7).

The number you’ll hear is 166 — supposedly 166 Free Staters in the New Hampshire House. Hold onto this, because it’s the softest spot in their attack: 166 is the count of representatives scoring 85% or better on the NH Liberty Alliance scorecard. That’s a voting-record index, not a membership roll. The Concord Monitor’s reporting puts confirmed FSP-affiliated legislators at “at least six” — a handful, not a horde (Concord Monitor; The Nation). By the 166 standard, voting for lower taxes makes you a Free Stater. Say that out loud at a candidates’ night and watch the attack deflate.

Why they’re running it

Ask yourself what the Democratic Party would rather talk about this year. In late June, DSA-backed socialists swept primaries in New York, and the national party is at open war with itself over it. Our own federal delegation has gone quiet: Hassan says nothing, Shaheen retired on a “both parties have gotten extreme” shrug, Pappas is doing a careful dance away from Mamdani without saying his name, and Goodlander signed the “We are capitalist, not socialist” pledge — one of only about ten House Democrats to do so — and then refused to answer NH Journal’s questions about why (NH Journal).

A local villain is very convenient right now. “Free Stater” lets them run against radicals without discussing the radicals in their own house. Even their own side sees it. The left-leaning NH Bulletin’s editor summed up the Democrats’ 2026 platform as “Vote for Us: We’ll Minimize the Damage!” and called it half-baked (NH Bulletin, July 8). Democratic Rep. Jonah Wheeler — one of their own young legislators — put it more bluntly: “The boogeyman politics, I think, is part of what people are tired of” (The Nation). When a sitting Democrat is quoting your talking point for you, use it.

How to answer it

Be straight about the facts, because the attack has a factual core and voters can smell a dodge. The FSP is real, Jason Osborne is the House Majority Leader, and the legislature has passed things Free Staters wanted. So don’t pretend the movement doesn’t exist — run on the record instead. The record is repealing the interest and dividends tax, expanding Education Freedom Accounts, and ending mandatory car inspections (NHPR). Ask the room whether anybody misses the inspection sticker. If your opponent wants to call the popular parts of the agenda a conspiracy, that’s an argument you can win in Sullivan County.

Answer the membership question honestly and briefly, whatever your answer is, then pivot to the question they can’t answer: their party is being taken over by actual, dues-paying socialists — the DSA’s own candidates say so proudly — and in New Hampshire’s entire federal delegation, only Goodlander has been willing to put her name to the word, and she won’t defend her own signature. You’ll be asked to account for six libertarians in a 400-seat House. Make them account for the direction of their entire national party.

One caution: don’t overreach the other way. Claiming every Democrat is a secret Mamdani is the same inflation trick as their 166 — and voters tired of one boogeyman are tired of both. The winning register here is the specific, checkable fact delivered with a shrug.

Sources: The Nation · Concord Monitor · NHPR · InDepthNH (protest) · InDepthNH (Speaker race) · InDepthNH (Laconia op-ed) · DemocracyNH · Granite State Matters · NH Bulletin · NH Journal