New Hampshire and Rhode Island Voters Head to Polls for State Primary Elections

Voters in New Hampshire and Rhode Island Set to Cast Ballots in State Primaries

Welcome to the live blog covering U.S. politics.

Voters in both states will decide on candidates for a full range of federal, state, and local positions over the next two days.

In New Hampshire, Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s decision not to run for re‑election has sparked a series of competitive contests, according to the Associated Press. Among the eight Republicans vying to succeed the three‑term Democrat are former senators John E. Sununu and Scott Brown, both of whom Shaheen defeated in earlier elections.

The Democratic nomination for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District features a five‑candidate field, led by incumbent Representative Chris Pappas, whose decision to vacate the seat has drawn numerous challengers.

Stefany Shaheen, the senator’s daughter, is among those seeking the Democratic nomination for the open seat, joined by former candidate Maura Sullivan. Several other contenders in high‑profile races are also running again.

In Rhode Island, Governor Dan McKee is confronting a formidable Democratic primary challenge tomorrow as he seeks a second full term. Voters will also select nominees for a full range of federal, state, and local offices.

McKee won the governorship by a wide margin in 2022 after taking office in March 2021, when former Governor Gina Raimondo resigned to become U.S. commerce secretary. He now risks becoming the first elected governor since 2014 to lose a renomination bid—and the first in Rhode Island to do so since 1994.

His opponent is Helena Buonanno Foulkes, a former longtime executive at Rhode Island‑based CVS. She finished a close second to McKee in the five‑way 2022 Democratic primary and is the niece of former Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd.

Other developments:

• President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier would no longer be permitted to sell its aircraft in the United States unless it begins manufacturing them domestically. “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If they want access to our market, they must build here and stop treating America like a piggybank.”

• New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is scheduled to meet Rudy Giuliani at the principal September 11 memorial service, just days after the former mayor—who led the city during the 2001 terrorist attacks—criticized Mamdani’s Muslim faith and suggested he should skip the event. In an interview with right-leaning Newsmax at the weekend, Giuliani said: “Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming.”

• A coalition of advocacy groups, featuring veteran lawyers, voting experts, and former judges, has intensified its legal challenges against Donald Trump’s authoritarian executive orders on voting and other presidential actions, which they characterize as a “war” on the rule of law in the United States. Significant legal opposition to Trump’s two executive orders on elections—which aim to restrict voting rights and override state authority over election administration—has emerged from the Democracy Defenders Fund, the Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and allied organizations.

• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a report linking “gender ideology” to left‑wing authoritarianism and political violence—a study that scientists describe as poorly executed and overtly political, likely intensifying the politicization of science and health. This comes after the administration’s efforts to restrict access to gender‑affirming care, including a Friday agreement between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to discontinue pediatric gender‑affirming services.

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