New Hampshire Senate primary features two former senators

Republican voters appear content with familiar choices

BERLIN, N.H. — Former Sens. John Sununu and Scott Brown are the top candidates in New Hampshire’s eight-person Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, according to the Associated Press. Their heydays long predate the Trump era, the report said.

The Associated Press described the race as bucking a national trend: voters elsewhere have embraced a decidedly anti-establishment sentiment this campaign season. New Hampshire Republican voters, by contrast, appear content with their choices and are poised on Tuesday to pick a familiar name over a fresh face.

A campaign commercial from 24 years ago opened with a voter declaring, “John Sununu represents the future.” Brown, Sununu’s current opponent, is a grandfather who says the role gives him an edge.

Paul Martino, 57, of North Hampton, said he is supporting Sununu because he seems smart, honest and civic-minded. Martino called him “a good guy for this moment.”

Martino said, “We need more people who try to find commonalities we can work off of versus differences we can use to be divisive.”

The Republicans’ back-to-the-future approach will provide a stark contrast in November with Democrats, whose primary includes both younger and progressive candidates.