USA TODAY to host town halls with six GOP presidential candidates in New Hampshire

Howard Altschiller, USA TODAY NETWORK
·4 min read
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The value and excitement of the New Hampshire presidential primary is created during the unscripted moments between voters and candidates. For more than 100 years, these exchanges have ensured the people vying for our nation’s top elected office have heard and understood the hopes and fears of Americans who don’t normally have such personal access to their leaders.

In 2016, cries from the hearts of mothers and fathers across New Hampshire ensured future nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fully understood the pain and devastation of the opioid crisis in the state and nation. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person campaigning, but in 2023 we have seen the great tradition come roaring back with a particularly robust Republican primary chock full of compelling candidates.

In keeping with that tradition, Seacoastonline and the USA TODAY Network will host 2024 Republican presidential candidates Oct. 10-15 in a series of events at the historic Exeter, New Hampshire, Town Hall. The town hall forums will be streamed on Seacoastonline.com — the website for the Portsmouth Herald, Foster's Daily Democrat, Exeter News-Letter and Hampton Union — along with USA TODAY and the nationwide USA TODAY Network.

In December 2007, Executive Editor Howard Altschiller welcomed U.S. Sen. John McCain to a Seacoast Media Group town hall with voters in Portsmouth ahead of the 2008 presidential primary. McCain went on to win his party's nomination.
In December 2007, Executive Editor Howard Altschiller welcomed U.S. Sen. John McCain to a Seacoast Media Group town hall with voters in Portsmouth ahead of the 2008 presidential primary. McCain went on to win his party's nomination.

One frustration we’ve heard expressed by candidates at primary campaign events is the difficulty in getting their unfiltered message through to voters. At these town halls, voters will have the opportunity to ask questions, and candidates will respond directly. Candidates will share a few opening remarks and then have a conversation with voters. Seacoast Media’s publications will report on these exchanges in its New Hampshire-based publications, and USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network will report the conversation to the nation.

Six of the Republican presidential primary candidates have committed to meet with voters between Oct. 10 and Oct. 15: Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Texas Congressman Will Hurd. We’re continuing our discussions with the remaining campaigns and will publish a final schedule of appearances by candidates in early October. Attendance will be first-come, first-served.

The location of the forums is ideal.

Candidates will meet with voters in the iconic Exeter Town Hall, which has the distinction of being the only location remaining in New Hampshire where Abraham Lincoln spoke in 1860, just months before launching his presidential campaign.

As the Exeter Historical Society reports: “On February 29, 1860, Abraham Lincoln – having just given an electrifying anti-slavery speech at Cooper Union in New York City – arrived in Exeter, (New Hampshire) to visit his son, Robert, a student at Phillips Exeter Academy. After speaking to ever-larger, quickly assembled crowds of New Hampshire citizens in Manchester, Concord, Dover, and Exeter, Lincoln went on to accept his party's nomination for President in May of that year, and then to the White House.”

Exeter also makes a convincing claim to being the birthplace of the Republican Party, 170 years ago this month.

“Amos Tuck, who was from Exeter and lived during the mid-1800s, assembled disenchanted political leaders there in 1853 to establish the GOP, according to the Tuck Society,” the Associated Press reported.

Mike Chaney, then director of the New Hampshire Political Library, told AP in 2004, "The Republican Party was clearly founded here in Exeter on Oct. 12, 1853."

Exterior of historic Exeter Town Hall will be the location of the Republican Candidate Town Hall Forums presented by USA TODAY Network and Seacoastonline.
Exterior of historic Exeter Town Hall will be the location of the Republican Candidate Town Hall Forums presented by USA TODAY Network and Seacoastonline.

The town of Exeter, which owns and operates the historic town hall, has been a helpful and supportive partner in this endeavor.

Seacoast Media Group, USA TODAY, and the USA TODAY Network of newsrooms across the country are honored to provide this access to voters in New Hampshire and our readers nationwide. It is our privilege to bring candidates and voters together for an honest and unfiltered dialogue that will help shape American history.

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The First in the Nation primary is alive and well. Candidates will file to run in New Hampshire from Oct. 11-27. With the second Republican debate now in the rearview mirror, candidates are laser focused once again on the Granite State.

As the event draws near, we will bring you profiles of all the candidates, letting you know their priorities for New Hampshire and the nation. Follow our election coverage at USATODAY.com and Seacoastonline.com.

Howard Altschiller is Seacoast Media Group’s executive editor. He can be reached at haltschiller@seacoastonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Meet GOP presidential candidates at USA Today town halls in Exeter NH