Apr. 6—Republican primary opponents pounced Tuesday on 1st Congressional District candidate Matt Mowers after voting records showed he voted in two different states during the 2016 presidential primary cycle.

Even 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton weighed in, accusing Mowers, an aide in former President Donald Trump's State Department, of committing voter fraud despite the national GOP's use of that claim as a "flimsy pretense" to restrict voting.

"Republican officials are so determined to transform voter fraud from a flimsy pretense for suppressing votes to an actual phenomenon, they keep committing it themselves," Clinton posted on Twitter.

Election records show Mowers, state director of 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie's campaign, voted in the New Hampshire primary by absentee ballot in February 2016.

Christie dropped out a day after his disappointing sixth-place finish here.

Mowers left the state and returned to his native New Jersey, gave his parents' address to register to vote there in March and then voted for Donald Trump in New Jersey's presidential primary on June 7.

Federal law bars voting more than once in any election, including in separate states for the same contest like a presidential primary, but the statute of limitations for voter fraud is five years, which has run out in this case.

When the Associated Press first reported on Mowers' voting record, the candidate didn't comment other than to issue a campaign statement that didn't directly address the issue. Meanwhile a lawyer connected with the campaign belittled the controversy.

But after the story surfaced Tuesday, Republican foes Karoline Leavitt of Hampton, Gail Huff Brown of Rye, Timothy Baxter of Seabrook and Julian Acciard of Salem all attacked Mowers.

"My opponent @mowers potentially violated election law and he is hiding behind his attorney, calling the report 'silly,'" said Leavitt, who served in Trump's White House communications office.

"This is a very, very serious allegation. Election integrity matters. Voters deserves truth and @mowers owes them an honest answer."

Brown said the GOP would abandon a signature issue if it nominates Mowers to challenge U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas again this November. The Manchester Democrat beat Mowers by 5% in 2020.

"The Republican Party is the party of election integrity, and we cannot nominate someone who has engaged in voter fraud and expect to be taken seriously on the topic," Brown said. "We can do better."

Mowers responded Tuesday afternoon with a detailed defense against the claim he had broken federal election law.

"I was proud to work for President Trump as the GOP establishment was working to undermine his nomination and accepted a job with his campaign in 2016, registered to vote and casted my vote in accordance with the law, and served as an elected Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention," Mowers said in his statement.

"I was proud to be part of the historic effort to prevent Hillary Clinton from re-entering the White House, and we shouldn't be surprised she's joined in smearing my record."

The Mowers campaign said New Jersey law requires someone to live in the state 30 days before voting, which he did.

"Being young and mobile is not a crime in New Hampshire and the fact is he had a lease at the time and had clearly established an intention to stay in the Granite State for the foreseeable future means that he easily met the requirements to cast a ballot in our elections," said state Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester.

The Mowers campaign said the candidate moved to take a job with Trump's campaign and ended up as a full-time national field coordinator and director of battleground states working at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

'Raises a huge question mark'

Like other GOP contenders in this race, Mowers said voter fraud is a legitimate concern and he supports legislation to conduct audits to confirm election results.

"We need to make sure we have confidence in our elections," Mowers told WMUR in January. "It is one of the most sacred obligations that we have."

Former Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan of Manchester called the controversy a "game-changer" that could cost Mowers a Trump endorsement.

"It's so hypocritical and raises a huge question mark about his judgment or lack thereof and his sincerity when he talks about voting," Sullivan said.

"I think it's a huge game-changer because it reveals him to be the arrogant phony that leading Democrats have always known he is."

Others contend there is another legal defense for Mowers' actions: June 7, 2016 was also the date New Jersey held its state primary election for other elective offices, large and small, up and down the ballot.

"You can make the argument that's not the same election if, in addition to Trump, you are voting for candidates for state rep or Congress who might have solicited you to vote for them," said Greg Moore, state director of Americans for Prosperity, a fiscally conservative group that has taken no position in the 1st District race.

Wayne Lesperance, provost with New England College, said the matter is a potential "vulnerability" Mowers needed to confront.

"On paper, you can imagine the attack ads the Democrats will run if this has any legs," he began.

But Lesperance said it remains to be seen whether this is a significant controversy that deeply harms his chances for a primary victory.

"It would strike me as highly unlikely that Matt Mowers would intentionally vote illegally," Lesperance said.

"It would be such a reckless decision to do otherwise for a young man who, by 2016, obviously had a bright political future."

The story emerged the morning after former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley campaigned here for Mowers.

Mowers has already won the endorsement of five Republican state senators.

"All the other candidates aren't getting any traction right now," Lesperance said.

"The real goal for Matt Mowers is how to make this a one-day story, and that may be by plainly addressing it once, and then moving on."

klandrigan@unionleader.com