Republicans of New Hampshire (one of the whitest states in the US) nominate a black former police chief for US Congress
Last night Eddie Edwards won the GOP nomination for US Congress from the 1st Congressional District of New Hampshire:
Eddie Edwards, who was endorsed by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, defeated six Republican opponents in the 1st Congressional District, which covers the eastern half of the state. A Navy veteran who also served as enforcement chief for the state liquor commission, Edwards is the second African-American to be nominated to a U.S. House seat in New Hampshire.
The NY Times, which I so often criticize, got it right about this one:
New Hampshire is set to elect either its first openly gay member of Congress or its first black representative…
In the 1st District, Executive Councilor Chris Pappas won Tuesday’s 11-way primary race for the Democratic nomination, beating a former Obama administration official who had raised more money than the other 10 candidates combined…
Pappas, who is gay, is a former state lawmaker who is serving his third term on the governor’s Executive Council, runs a family restaurant in Manchester and has the backing of key Democrats including the state’s two U.S. senators. He told supporters Tuesday evening his campaign will be about decency, unity and progress…
Eddie Edwards, who was endorsed by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, defeated six opponents on the Republican side. A Navy veteran who also served as enforcement chief for the state liquor commission, Edwards is the second African-American to be nominated to a U.S. House seat in New Hampshire.
One thing for sure is that this election will break the all-female lock on New Hampshire representation in Congress. New Hampshire is a tiny state, not only one of the smallest in the nation (population about one and a third million people) but one of the whitest at 95% (exceeded only by its more liberal sister states, Maine and Vermont) and one of the least black at 1.22%. I would wager that most of the black population of New Hampshire is Democratic rather than Republican, although I certainly don’t know.
And yet Edwards won handily, getting 48% of the vote (almost half) in a crowded race. That’s impressive. Edwards was helped by the fact that Giuliani endorsed him, which makes him Trump-backed by proxy.
Don’t you think that if Edwards had been a Democrat, this event would be getting more publicity?
Here’s Edwards’ bio. And here’s Edwards:
Edwards has a chance of winning, but I don’t know how big a chance. The 1st Congressional District of NH (there are only two in the entire state, by the way) has been traded back and forth between Democrats and Republicans for many election cycles. His Democratic opponent is a young man who grew up in New Hampshire and is from a prominent restaurant-owning family in a big population center in the state.
I hope a lot of money gets put into this race by the GOP national organization. It might pay dividends.
I happily voted for Edwards. A lot of NH’s African-American population is either A) From NY or MA in the last two decades, or B) actually from Africa. We are a major resettlement area relative to our size. The former will be city Democrats, many of the latter are not registered. The African-Americans in the suburbs are more 30-70. I don’t think there are many rural.
He has an uphill climb. Pappas’s family restaurant (I graduated with his parents) the Puritan Backroom, is easily the best-known in the state, and has been for three generations (my mother was at HS with Chris’s grandparents). If you are Old Manchester, you run into people you know every time you go in. Most of them know one of the Pappas’s or knew the Canotas’s. I am told that Chris is likeable, which does not surprise me.
Republican Andy Sanborn ran a very negative campaign against Edwards, who did not respond in kind.
AVI:
I agree that in a state like NH the family reputation is good for a lot of votes. However, I’ve not yet seen any polls in the 1st. And Edwards is very personable too. Also, he’s got a lot of creds involving the opioid epidemic, which is a big deal in NH.
All in all, though, I think Pappas is somewhat favored. I hope not.
Liberal transgender vs conservative black. #PrinciplesMatter
Levi, son of Bernie Sanders, came in sixth or something similar. Daddy did not endorse because “family does not believe in dynasties”.
But Levi did work in Daddy’s campaigns!
BTW, Edwards is not the only black New Englander standing for election where a mostly white constituency will vote him up or vote him down. It used to be that black politicians thought they needed black voters to be elected. No more.
AVI:
Pappas’s family restaurant (I graduated with his parents) the Puritan Backroom, is easily the best-known in the state..
Used to be that Greeks running restaurants in New England stuck to either Greek or pizza. They are branching out. From the name of “Puritan Backroom,” I made the assumption that it served traditional New England fare- Indian pudding, stuff like that- but from looking at the menu I conclude it serves standard American restaurant fare. Back in the day I used to work at an inn that served traditional New England fare- cooked by Lebanese. Is that appropriating ? 🙂 They did served Lebanese food at special request.
Gringo:
There’s a little bit of Greekitude in the Puritan Backroom menu. Kebobs of many sorts, Greek macaroni and cheese, and Greek salads with everything. Baklava is among the desserts.
In New England—as you probably know—Greeks are overrepresented in the restaurant business and way overrepresented in the pizza business. They also are very active in Democratic politics. For example, we have (or had) Dukakis, Tsongas (my favorite), and Olympia Snowe as the most prominent.
Pappas combines the two: restaurants and Democratic politics.
Michigan republicans voted for a black guy over a white guy to run for Senate.
Richard Aubrey- here in Michigan our Republican nominee for Senate is John James, a 37 year-old African American. He’s a West Point graduate, flew 400+ combat missions in Iraq as an Apache helicopter pilot, came home to earn an MBA and became CEO of his family business in Detroit.
I’ve been to a couple of rallies and he’s a charismatic speaker with a beautiful young family. He has an uphill battle, being hugely outspent by the campaign of the current Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow, but I think with enough support he could pull this off and be the future of the Republican Party. You can check him out at Johnjamesforsenate.com.
The picture of Edwards with, I presume, his wife and their respective dogs is priceless. Proof right there of the profound differences between the sexes. Of course my deplorable brain is saying that poodle could be a dog whistle…….
The Puritan Backroom was originally just The Puritan and had 4 locations where they sold candy and ice cream. They branched out early into the sort of diner and drive-in food that ice cream places had: burgers, hot dogs. High school kids went there after football and basketball games.
@neo – I had forgotten the opioid piece. Politicians saying “I care” and looking serious may not be enough here right now. Though that has worked for a lot of ’em up until now.
@ n.n. – he’s not transgender. It hurts the cause when you write things like that.
The cause, of course, being founded on the idea that we are dealing with reality, not mind-reading and what people wish were true.