PORTSMOUTH, NH — The race for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, often overlooked next to the flashier U.S. Senate contests in the state and next door in Maine, is increasingly on Washington’s radar.
On Monday evening, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries campaigned with Democratic nominee Stefany Shaheen at a field office in Portsmouth.
Calling the contest “one of the closest open-seat races in the country,” Jeffries hit on the points voters have come to expect from Democratic campaigns this year: affordability concerns, the unpopularity of the war in Iran, the need to reform campaign finance laws and perceived corruption by the Trump administration.
“To anyone out there, if you’ve been stealing from the American people, shortchanging the American people or screwing over the American people,” Jeffries said, “beginning on day one in the new Congress, we’re committed to holding the crooks accountable.”
Jeffries’ visit to New Hampshire comes ahead of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s visit later this week. (Donovan Lynch/Spectrum News)
Shaheen, the daughter of New Hampshire’s retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, is trying to clinch the seat left open by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who is running for the senior Shaheen’s open Senate seat (a true political carousel).
The Democrat faces Republican Anthony DiLorenzo, a Trump-endorsed businessman whom the House minority leader made a point of attacking.
“What a contrast between her and her opponent, who is a MAGA out-of-touch extremist and will join the Congress as a sycophant for the current president in the United States of America,” Jeffries told a crowd of supporters.
DiLorenzo responded in a statement to Spectrum News Monday night, defending his platform as rooted in lowering costs, creating jobs and giving back to his community. He accused Jeffries and Shaheen of left-wing ties.
“Stefany is a political insider who’s been riding her parents’ coattails her entire life and will be a rubber stamp for her party bosses’ socialist agenda,” the Republican wrote.
Over the course of the campaign, Shaheen has sought to tie her opponent to Trump while presenting herself as a change candidate.
“We know we have to fix so much of what’s been broken, but we also have to fight to deliver on the promise of this country,” she said Monday
The 52-year-old health care entrepreneur survived a competitive three-way primary against Maura Sullivan – a veteran and former Obama administration official – and progressive Carleigh Beriont.
DiLorenzo, who comfortably dispatched two primary opponents of his own, calls himself an “independent voice” who will “work with anyone serious about improving our great state and country.”
Polling shows a contest that is essentially tied.
Anthony DiLorenzo, who received Trump’s endorsement, has attacked Shaheen for her family ties to politics. Shaheen’s mother, Jeanne Shaheen, represents New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate. (Courtesy: Anthony DiLorenzo for Congress)
A University of New Hampshire survey of more than 700 likely voters in late September had Shaheen with a 4-point advantage over DiLorenzo.
Democrats, who brought former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to campaign in the district before Jeffries, are not the only ones putting their best on the case.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to campaign for DiLorenzo this week, as Republicans view the seat as a viable pickup opportunity.
Unlike in many other parts of the country, Democrats are playing defense in key New England congressional races.
Across the border in Maine, Republican former Gov. Paul LePage is locked in a tight contest with Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap for a seat in a Trump-supporting district that the retiring Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate, has held since 2019.
If DiLorenzo wins in New Hampshire and LePage in Maine, the loss of two New England seats could prove an obstacle to Democrats’ effort to win back the House.