Sweeney: Cinde Warmington's Long, Hot Summer

By Joe Sweeney, NH Journal

For most Granite Staters, summer is a season of optimism. For opioid lobbyist Cinde Warmington, it is shaping up to be something else entirely: a long, painful reminder that some political baggage is simply too heavy to carry.

Warmington entered this race hoping voters would forget about her past. Instead, the conversation keeps returning to her record. And why wouldn’t it?

Few candidates have entered a statewide race carrying a label as politically toxic as “opioid lobbyist” in a state that knows firsthand the devastation opioids have left behind.

The opioid epidemic is not some abstract political issue. For years, New Hampshire communities watched addiction tear apart families, overwhelm first responders, and rob countless people of their futures. It is deeply personal. Nearly every Granite Stater knows someone affected by it. That reality is why Warmington’s record continues to haunt her.

The more voters learn about it, the harder it becomes to imagine a path forward for her campaign. The more she tries to dodge it, the more it dominates the conversation.

A candidate can survive policy disagreements. A record that voters view as fundamentally disqualifying is simply impossible to overcome. The warning signs have been flashing all summer.

One of Warmington’s most prominent supporters from her 2024 campaign, Merrimack County Sheriff David Croft, a Democrat, endorsed Gov. Kelly Ayotte.

Around the same time, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley found himself in the awkward position of begging Democrats to get behind their own nominee.

The uncomfortable truth is that many Democrats appear to understand exactly what Republicans have been saying for months. They know her record is disqualifying, and voters are going to hear about it every day between now and Election Day.

There is no explanation or slogan that can make it disappear.

Most importantly, they know every discussion about the race eventually leads back to the same question: Why should New Hampshire voters overlook a completely disqualifying record?

That question is not going away. It is nearly August, and Warmington is still struggling to escape it. What happens in September? What happens in October? What happens after millions of dollars are spent reminding voters about the very thing her campaign wants them to forget?

Politics is ultimately about trust. Voters do not have to agree with a candidate on every issue. They simply need to believe the candidate shares their values and has exercised sound judgment.

That is where opioid lobbyist Cinde Warmington faces an impossible challenge.

The reality is becoming harder and harder to ignore. If this summer is any indication, opioid lobbyist Cinde Warmington is facing the longest three months of her life.

With every passing week, the question becomes less about whether she can turn things around and more about whether she should spare herself the inevitable and throw in the towel.

State Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) is House Majority Floor Leader. He's also founder and chairman of Granite Solutions. He wrote this for NHJournal.com.

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.