New Hampshire’s primary draws the usual suspects — candidates, staff, journalists — but this year’s race is also bringing out “political tourists” who don't live and can't vote in the Granite State but are seeking to take advantage of its privileged position in the presidential nomination contest.
Over the weekend, out-of-state visitors could be found at events across the Granite state. And they came for different reasons.
Just days before New Hampshire voters go to the polls, Jonah Wolff from New Jersey — a former staffer for Sen. Cory Booker — wanted to be with other political junkies.
“Last weekend as things were ramping up for the Iowa caucuses, as the caucuses were happening, and even in the aftermath, I was feeling like I was missing out on those final days of early state action,” Wolff said in an interview with WGBH News. “So I decided to come on up to New Hampshire to feel that kind of energy and experience it.”
Michael Nixon, who is from New York, came to fulfill a bucket list item and make a more nuanced assessment of the candidates he’s considering.
“I’ve always dreamed of coming up to New Hampshire to see candidates up close, and at the very last minute, I decided to come this time,” he explained at a rally for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Concord. “I want to see the candidates in-person just to feel the energy that they generate and see them unfiltered.”
Mikyhial Clarke, a student at Temple University in Philadelphia, came with a media and politics group to practice covering political events. He found the experience insightful.
“It was interesting to see a big, controlled group of people with the same ideology and wanting to push the same agenda,” he said after making stops at events for Warren and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
Clarke, who is black, said voters were open to being interviewed and open to hearing ideas posed from his perspective.
“Overall, I’d say it was an eye-opening experience to see how politics work in a small state like New Hampshire,” he said.
Clarke’s broadcast journalism professor, Karen Turner, said the New Hampshire primary is a good training ground.
“They’re in the middle of the action,” she said. “You don’t have the kind of crowds that we’ll have in Pennsylvania, or New Jersey, and so I think the students really get a chance to see what it’s like to really interact with those who are volunteers, those who are supporters, and also the candidates."
Carolyn Sellars, and her husband Fred are from Ashburnham, Massachusetts. They consider themselves neighbors, and “flyover country.”
“We’re right over the border. The next town north of us is New Hampshire,” said Carolyn. “We do take advantage of the opportunity to see the candidates up-close when [we] can because we don’t have that opportunity so much in Massachusetts.”
“We’re one of the smallest states in Super Tuesday,” Fred chimed. “[The candidates] are not going to spend a lot of time [there].”
