Warnock's New Hampshire Visit Good For Democrats, Great For FITN Primary

By Leonard Robinson, NH Journal

New Hampshire is one of the country’s most secular states, but Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s visit was an answered prayer for supporters of the First in the Nation primary.

“I come with a great deal of admiration, respect and appreciation for New Hampshire,” Warnock, who is also a senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, told Democrats in Nashua Tuesday. “You are a fierce, independent spirit and just when politicians think they got it all figured out, y’all really know how to mix it up and I think that spirit is so very important in this moment.”

Warnock, D-Ga., began his day at Cup of Joe Coffee and Bar in Portsmouth alongside Stefany Shaheen, the Democratic nominee in the NH-01 race. He later campaigned in Manchester and Nashua with Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, who is running against Republican John Sununu in a competitive race. He also had Manchester and Keene on his schedule.

New Hampshire was one stop on a broader campaign swing that also puts Warnock in other states familiar to presidential contenders. Political Wire, citing Politico, reported that he was scheduled to visit Nevada on Wednesday and South Carolina next week, with additional stops in Mississippi, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio before the midterms.

The Georgia senator, who won a full six-year term in 2022 after winning a special-election runoff in January 2021, offered criticism of President Trump’s tariff policy designed to resonate in low-tax, Live Free or Die New Hampshire.

“It’s a tax, and isn’t it ironic, New Hampshire, that a man who lives in Washington has taxed you more than any Democrat or Republican, any politician in this state,” Warnock said. “I don’t even live here and it makes me mad!”

Warnock invoked both King and the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis when describing how ordinary Americans’ actions can help overcome a “sense of despair” felt in recent months.

“It’s not about the people in power, but the power in the people,” Warnock said. “In just 28 days, the people are going to rise up and remind Donald Trump that he too lives in public housing. It’s not his house, it’s the people’s house.”

Warnock comes from his party’s left flank, a fact the New Hampshire GOP used to challenge Pappas’ moderate image. In a statement Tuesday, NHGOP Chairman Scott Maltzie argued that campaigning with Warnock signaled how Pappas would vote in the Senate.

“Raphael Warnock is one of the most liberal members of the United States Senate,” Maltzie said.

Other Republicans, however, went out of their way to praise Warnock, not over his policies, but over his decision to campaign in the Granite State as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

“The more prominent Democrats like Senator Warnock who come, the better it is as far as the First In The Nation primary is concerned,” veteran political operative Tom Rath told NHJournal. “It is also a realization at the national level that our Senate race is genuinely tight. There’s a lot at stake here.”

On Tuesday, Warnock deflected questions about a potential 2028 presidential run.

“I understand that an HOA is looking for a president,” Warnock said. “Look, I’m sharply focused on the midterms. 2028 is a dream if we don’t get it right in 2026.”

In the wake of the Democratic National Committee’s decision to strip New Hampshire of its First in the Nation place on their 2028 primary calendar, supporters of the primary have warned that if major candidates refuse to campaign here, the first in the nation status could be lost.

It also helps that Warnock, a prominent Black Democrat, is in New Hampshire given the DNC’s argument that the state is “too white” to host the first primary.

“As the DNC actively works to undermine our traditions that have served the nation so well, it is encouraging to see another potential 2028 presidential candidate in the state,” Merrill said. “The true test will come after November when we see which national Democrat has the courage to tell the DNC to pound sand and come to New Hampshire to make their case.”

The DNC isn’t the only threat to the status of the primary. The state’s own Democratic Party base is, too.

A February 2026 UNH Survey Center poll found that just 49% of self-identified Democrats supported the law protecting New Hampshire’s First in the Nation status, compared to 76% of Republicans. Among Democrats, 41% were neutral or said it did not matter to them.

Ben Dibble, a Hudson Democratic activist who attended Warnock’s Nashua event told NHJournal he did not believe Warnock’s 2028 ambitions played into his decision to campaign in New Hampshire.

Dibble also favored a different approach to choosing which states vote first.

“It should be a lottery for First In The Nation with maybe one or two [primaries] and then a bunch of other dates,” Dibble told NHJournal. “Give Alaska a chance. Give Hawaii a chance.”

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.