Granite Status: Senators urge VA to make sure Afghanistan vets are OK

Sep. 2—The images of the evacuation from Kabul have been upsetting, no matter one's experience. But for war veterans, particularly those who served in Afghanistan, the effects could be more difficult to deal with.

New Hampshire's senators led a bipartisan group urging the VA to proactively reach out to veterans to make sure they are coping.

Sen. Maggie Hassan led a letter with Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Bill Cassidy, (R-La.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, urging the administration to make an effort to connect with younger veterans at risk for suicide, and with a focus on those whose trauma may be triggered by watching images of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan.

"Especially given the constant media coverage and disturbing images coming out of Afghanistan, we ask for your commitment to developing a comprehensive outreach plan for our Global War on Terrorism, and specifically our Afghanistan veterans," the letter reads. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen signed onto the letter, along with more than 30 other senators of both parties.

The VA is also marking suicide prevention month, and is reminding vets and their loved ones of resources tailored to veterans' experiences and needs.

"Every door is the right door for you. We want you to reach out," said Kevin Forrest, director of the Manchester VA Medical Center. "Whether veterans are looking for peer-to-peer support, clinical care, counseling, or something else, VA is here to help."

Preemptive thanks

Progressive groups are pushing hard for the reconciliation bill — the $3.5 trillion proposal from Senate Democrats that includes a huge raft of programs such as Medicare dental coverage, free community college and making expanded child tax credits permanent.

The Save the Children Action Network, the political arm of the charity Save the Children, is advocating for the piece of the bill that would fund preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, and support child care businesses.

The preemptive thank-yous in the ads are similar to spots the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy group, ran earlier this summer, thanking Hassan, Shaheen and Rep. Chris Pappas for their presumed support of climate change-fighting policies — including measures in the reconciliation bill.

Dimming popularity

Support for President Joe Biden has tanked since his election, according to the Saint Anselm College poll from the Institute of Politics, as has support for Democrats in federal office

"Most ominous for New Hampshire's all-Democratic congressional delegation, the generic congressional ballot has swung to the Republicans (46%-43%) for the first time in the history of this poll," reads a statement explaining the poll. That puts the difference just outside the poll's 2.3% margin of error.

Hassan trails in a still-totally-hypothetical Senate matchup with Gov. Chris Sununu, according to the poll, with more respondents saying they disapprove of her work in the Senate than approve.

As many poll respondents support the performance of Pappas in office as think he is doing a bad job in Congress.

Rowdy Republican race

Such dour views of the delegation could be spurring more entrants to the Congressional race to take on Pappas. Five Republicans are in the race, with WMUR reporting the possibility of a sixth.

Pappas has had a target on his back for years, with the Republican Party's national campaign apparatuses and other D.C.-based conservative groups pumping money into anti-Pappas ads even between elections, hoping to win back what was once a swing district. Factor in a potentially Republican-friendly redistricting before the 2022 election, said Chris Galdieri, associate professor of politics at Saint Anselm College, and it's no wonder so many Republicans want to run for Congress.

Whoever wins the primary has a good chance of joining the House, Galderi said. So why not throw your hat in the ring, when the worst that could happen is you lose a primary?

One complicating factor for Republicans, Galdieri said, is if district-drawers in Concord fashion a district that only leans Republican — and the nominee is one of the five avowed pro-Trump conservatives now in the race.

'You could wind up with a mismatch," Galdieri said. "You could imagine a candidate who could blow a winnable race."

With so many candidates — Julian Acciard, state Rep. Tim Baxter, Karoline Leavitt, 2020 nominee Matt Mowers and Gilead Towne are in, and Gail Huff Brown is reported to be testing the waters — the threshold for winning a primary is low, Galdieri said. A candidate could win the primary with 20 or 25% of the vote, if all five candidates stay in the race.

And if the candidates are trying to show voters they are more conservative than the others, "it could be that the candidate that emerges from the primary is not a good fit for the district, and could turn off less Trumpish Repubicans," Galdieri said.

For their part, Democrats are already delighting in that possibility. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the arm of the party that focuses on House campaigns, called the race a "mud pit" this week.

Sweet treats, mask-free

Before getting to the Bank of New Hampshire Stage in Concord to speak about school vouchers, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stopped in Bedford to rile up a group of Republicans ahead of the special election for state representative there.

The group gathered at the Simply Delicious Baking Company, which gained a little notoriety in 2020 for its refusal to require employees to wear face masks after COVID-19 reopening guidelines required restaurant staff to wear masks — even after warnings from the Bedford health inspector, the Bedford fire chief and the police chief.

The bakery was fined $500 last fall, with the owner saying the health rules were in conflict with her desire to run a "face-to-face community space."

The Attorney General's Office later dropped the fine, along with those levied against other restaurants, saying it was not worth the time and effort to pursue relatively small fines.

Contact Josie Albertson-Grove at jgrove@unionleader.com.