The NH GOP's Best Fundraiser Is In The Wrong Race

By Leonard Robinson, NH Journal

The good news for the New Hampshire GOP is that it’s got a congressional candidate whose fundraising is on fire, raising close to $900,000 without taking any PAC money, just small donors.

The bad news is that she’s running in the wrong race.

Second Congressional District Republican Lily Tang Williams is putting up solid fundraising numbers, with $212,000 in the first quarter of 2026 and a total of $869,000 since entering the race a year ago. Williams has more than $500,000 cash on hand.

“Williams’ impressive Q1 results — achieved with zero PAC money, unlike her opponent — underscore her prowess as a Republican challenger in one of New England’s most competitive districts,” read a statement from her campaign. “Powered almost entirely by small-dollar donors from across New Hampshire and the country, her campaign has consistently outperformed expectations.”

Unfortunately for the GOP, there hasn’t been a competitive NH-02 race since the Tea Party year of 2010. Incumbent Rep. Maggie Goodlander has about $2 million cash on hand. And the last time a Republican presidential candidate outperformed the Democrat in the district was George W. Bush in 2000.

It’s the First Congressional District that political professionals say is the potential pickup for the GOP. (Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.) But in that race, Republican candidates are struggling to get donors on board.

Businessman Anthony DiLorenzo, regarded by political observers as the frontrunner, reported a Q1 2026 fundraising haul of just under $443,000. However, most of that came from the candidate himself. The campaign raised just $92,000.

In fact, fellow Republican Hollie Noveletsky narrowly outraised DiLorenzo among donors, collecting $96,000.

State Rep. Brian Cole, R-Manchester, reported $36,400 raised, and Bedford Republican Melissa Bailey just $13,648.

Put another way, the total raised by the four GOP candidates ($238,000) is about the same amount ($235,000) Democratic candidate Christian Urrutia raised by himself.

And in the Democratic candidate fundraising race, Urrutia finished third.

Former Obama administration official Maura Sullivan was the top fundraiser for the fourth quarter in a row with $720,000, a substantial $200,000 advantage over Stefany Shaheen.

“With a total cycle raise of $2.6 million and nearly $1.5 million cash on hand, Sullivan has widened the gap between her and her nearest competitor — Stefany Shaheen — every quarter to date,” the Sullivan campaign said in a statement. “Five months before the September primary, Sullivan has the resources to communicate her message to voters across NH-01 and win.”

Shaheen, daughter of U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, raised $510,000 in Q1 and spent nearly half of that amount. She currently has $1.1 million in cash on hand.

The Urrutia campaign calls his fundraising numbers a “grassroots fundraising milestone,” noting “in the most recent quarter alone, the campaign raised $235,000 from over 11,500 contributions, with an average contribution of just $19. The latest numbers further establish Urrutia as the only progressive candidate in the race with a real path to winning both the nomination and the general election.”

Republican DiLorenzo remains the frontrunner, in part because of his willingness to self-fund. He’s put $800,000 into the race and has about $827,000 in cash on hand. But DiLorenzo entered the race with the expectation that he would invest whatever it took to achieve financial parity with Democrats and keep the GOP competitive.

Now Republicans are raising questions.

“The promise of a DiLorenzo candidacy was that he would have the resources to compete with the Democratic candidates who appear to have unlimited funds. In fact, his campaign drove other candidates out of the race based on this premise,” said GOP communications professional Patrick Hynes.

“Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re seeing. Meanwhile, his message does not appear to be breaking through. A lot of Republicans are scratching their heads over the DiLorenzo campaign.”

Noveletsky, president of Novel Iron Works, has also put in a significant amount of her own money ($265,000) and has more than $400,000 in cash on hand. She sees no reason to get out of the race, and her supporters say the latest numbers give her a leg up.

“Hollie Noveletsky’s fundraising strength speaks volumes,” said longtime GOP activist Beverly Bruce. “Not only did she outraise a well-funded competitor this quarter, but she’s also building a campaign grounded in real support, not just personal loans. That combination of momentum and credibility is exactly what voters in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District are looking for.”

But winning the GOP fundraising fight is a far cry from carrying a congressional seat in New Hampshire, something Republicans have only done once in the past seven election cycles.

And the Democrats’ fundraising edge is on display in federal races across the country. Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in targeted races like Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio are outpacing their Republican counterparts by two to three times — or more.

The Cook Political Report lists both New Hampshire seats as “Likely Democrat.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.