As a moderate Republican voter, I have always voted for the values I believed exemplified my party: fiscal responsibility, national security, and individual liberty. I like to believe that these values characterize a lot of New Hampshire voters, who generally avoid extremism and favor compromise and common-sense values. I speak for those of us who want government to be about improving the lives of constituents, with our elected representatives working across the aisle wherever possible to achieve it.

But what I have seen lately is an abandonment of those values. Candidates like Karoline Leavitt, Don Bolduc, and their “mini-me’s” down the ballot have aligned themselves with the most extreme elements of the Republican party, gaining endorsements from Ted Cruz, Lauren Boebert, and Trump himself. Instead of compromise, they seek to overturn settled law and norms and inflame divisions that threaten our civil discourse in the Granite State. This is not conservatism: it’s extremism, fueled by out-of-state money and out-of-state agendas. And what’s at stake is the future of our democracy.

I am not a Democrat, but I am a patriot and a believer in the power of government to work for good on behalf of our citizenry. In that spirit, I urge you to join me in voting for Democrats Maggie Hassan and Chris Pappas on Nov. 8.

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