Hassan, Bolduc attack on multiple fronts in first debate
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Oct. 18—CONWAY — During the first of their three face-to-face debates, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan and Republican challenger Don Bolduc attacked each other's views Tuesday on a range of issues from inflation, abortion and energy to crime and immigration.
Hassan said Bolduc deliberately tried to mislead the voters about his support for cutting Social Security, his endorsement of a national ban on abortion and his denial of the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
"This allows him to support an agenda that will raise your costs and eviscerate your rights," Hassan said in her closing statement. "He doesn't think he needs to listen and be accountable to the voters."
Bolduc repeatedly accused Hassan of lying about his positions.
Bolduc said he would protect Social Security, oppose a national abortion ban and has said in the past month that Biden was the legitimate election winner in 2020.
Hassan's tactics are just what a desperate career politician would do to try to save her job, Bolduc charged.
"Are you better off than you were two years ago?" Bolduc asked, amending the late President Ronald Reagan's famous debate line.
"Senator Hassan has supported Joe Biden 100% of the time with every failed policy that has resulted in your hardship."
Hassan said she's disagreed with Biden at times and will continue to do so if it's in New Hampshire's best interest.
"I have spoken up against some of his policies and pushed him hard on everything from Afghanistan to the border and pushed him hard on any number of things," Hassan said.
The tension in the cable television studio lightened when the two talked about their favorite TV shows as kids and the best side dishes they eat on Thanksgiving.
Bolduc wished Hassan's mother an early happy birthday when she turns 91 Wednesday, and Hassan twice thanked the retired U.S. Army brigadier general for his 33-year service.
Beyond those light moments, however, the visions the candidates presented could not have been more stark, mirroring the themes seen in other targeted U.S. Senate races across the country.
The economy
Over and over Tuesday, Bolduc returned to an assault on Hassan's record of voting for $5.2 trillion in federal spending that he said kick-started inflation, which has reached a 40-year high.
"It is driven by bad energy decisions, and those decisions have impacted Granite Staters and raised inflation to a historic high, and it is only going to get higher," Bolduc said.
Hassan countered that Bolduc is only carrying water for the fossil fuel industry, which has recorded huge profits while taxpayers suffer with soaring energy prices.
"He is singing Big Oil's song. He stands with Big Oil to give them billions of tax breaks that cost all of you money," Hassan said.
On entitlements, Hassan said Bolduc would put Americans' retirement safety net at risk.
"Go to Bolducfacts.com. He wants to eliminate Social Security and cut Medicare by trillions of dollars that jacks prices for our seniors," Hassan said.
Bolduc responded, "They are MaggieHassanLies.com. I am going through the window for Social Security. She has been stealing from Social Security for six years."
Despite this flashpoint, both candidates endorsed in concept the same reform of the program — raising the cap on the Social Security tax currently levied on the first $118,000 of annual wages.
On abortion, Hassan repeated that Bolduc previously said the state's 24-week ban on abortions did not go far enough.
"At the end of the day, women can make decisions on their own, and politicians like Don Bolduc have no place in the examining room," Hassan said.
Bolduc said state lawmakers should set abortion policy.
"The lies in her commercials right now ... she needs to take that commercial down. It has been a lie and it is a lie," Bolduc said.
He also challenged Hassan to defend her position that there be no legal restrictions on abortion.
"She wants abortion up to the time of birth, and that is unacceptable to a majority of Granite Staters," Bolduc said. "She is the extremist, and she is wrong."
Bolduc argued the U.S. Supreme Court didn't overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 that legalized abortion across America up to the point of fetal viability.
"The role of the federal government is not to be involved. That's what the Dobbs decision did; it didn't reverse Roe v. Wade. Once again the senator should know that. She knows this, she was there, she was a governor, she was a state senator," Bolduc began.
"She knows the difference. It only moved it down the state level. Our governor and our Legislature passed a law, and I support that law."
Veterans affairs
When Hassan talked about her work on behalf of veterans, Bolduc condemned Congress for failing to support the military.
"She has participated in the weakening of this country both at home and abroad, and she needs to be held accountable for it," Bolduc said.
It's a scandal that 30,000 veterans have committed suicide since 2000, Bolduc said.
"You can't pat yourself on the back and say you are doing the right things for veterans when those kind of statistics are the bottom line of what you have done," Bolduc said.
Hassan said her late father, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, always asked her to work every day to protect freedom, and she agreed more work is needed to support mental health services for veterans.
"It is not where we need to be yet," Hassan said.
The Mount Washington Valley Economic Council sponsored Tuesday's debate.
