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Rudman Center Executive Director Anna Brown, during a recent appearance on The State We’re In on PBS, said most of the better-funded candidates ended up winning their primary races.  Brown vetted the winning candidates and identified local issues worth watching in the upcoming legislative session. 

“Kelly Ayotte, an early favorite among Republicans handily won over Chuck Morse,” she said. “Maggie Goodlander, who came in with a very impressive national network of fundraisers, defeated Colin Van Ostern in the second Congressional District Democratic primary.”

 Watch the full interview .

In the First District, Republican Russell Prescott, who also had the funding edge, will face incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas.

The Second District GOP race was the exception, Brown said. Lily Tang Williams, who raised less money than her two closest rivals, won her race.  Williams has a compelling personal story, Brown said.

“She left Communist China as a young woman and spoke frequently about running because she is concerned that America doesn’t turn into Communist China and also that she is the American dream embodied. Here she is from China, and she’s a viable candidate for Congress.” 

 Brown is also the executive director of Citizens Count, which surveys the candidates and provides information on their positions on its .

“It’s really important to learn where these candidates stand, especially when they differ from their party, which happens a fair amount when you go down to that local level.”     

Among the key survey findings:  There is no real consensus among Republicans on abortion policy; about 16% of GOP are open to expanding net metering, which indicates support for larger solar projects, an area that could be ripe for bipartisan support; more than half of Democrats surveyed were open to some form of capital gains tax.

For Republicans, aligning with former President Donald Trump did not seem to play as well this year as it did in 2022, Brown said.

Gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte’s affiliation with Trump could pose a problem, Brown said, “because she made headlines in 2016 saying, ‘as a mother and a woman I cannot endorse or vote for Donald Trump because of the way he has talked about women and allegedly treated women.’  She reversed course and this year has said I’m voting for Trump because he’s the Republican nominee. She’s going to need to appeal to those moderate voters. So, watch for how she is going to thread that needle.”