Former White House aide Karoline Leavitt managed to edge out ex-State Department official Matt Mowers on Tuesday in the bitterly contested GOP race to take on Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District.
While Mowers held an early lead in the primary, Leavitt, 25, closed the gap, having received key endorsements, including from House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who broke with the rest of GOP leadership. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT); Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee; and Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) all backed Leavitt, with some hitting the campaign trail to give her a boost ahead of Election Day.
Stefanik congratulated Leavitt on her primary win Tuesday night. “I was proud to support Karoline early on in her race — no one knows more than I do that you should NEVER underestimate a young, hardworking conservative woman,” Stefanik said in a statement. “Karoline is an America First warrior and homegrown fighter for New Hampshire who is inspiring the next generation of conservatives to step up and lead, and I look forward to supporting her every stop of the way as she works tirelessly to defeat Far Left puppet Chris Pappas and flip this key seat red to Fire Pelosi once and for all!”
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The heated battle for the nomination garnered national media attention, with outside groups dumping millions into the race.
Leavitt faced strong headwinds, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (D-LA), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley endorsing Mowers in the race, seeing him as the most viable candidate in the general election due to the swingy nature of the seat.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely aligned with McCarthy, spent a whopping $1.3 million to boost Mowers, and the Defending Main Street super PAC spent roughly $1 million in an attempt to portray Leavitt as a “woke Gen-Zer” too immature to handle the job.
Leavitt has faced pushback from centrist Republicans who took aim at her for alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
In the days leading up to the primary, Leavitt attempted to paint Mowers as “the handpicked puppet of the establishment,” attacking him as a “Washington insider” and taking to Fox News programs, including Tucker Carlson Tonight, to blast her opponent and McCarthy, who is currently the front-runner to become the next speaker of the House if Republicans take back the majority.
Leavitt has declined to say whether she will back McCarthy’s speaker bid if she wins the general election in November.
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In addition to Leavitt, former broadcaster Gail Huff, the wife of former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA); state Rep. Tim Baxter; former state Sen. and Executive Councilor Russell Prescott; veteran and businessman Mark Kilbane; and sales associate Gilead Towne also sought the nomination.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political handicapper, rates the race a “toss-up.”
