New Hampshire Party Chair Says Voters Like Entire 2020 Field

(Bloomberg) -- New Hampshire’s Democratic Party chairman said Saturday that state voters would be satisfied with any of the top 2020 candidates winning the nomination, largely because of their opposition to President Donald Trump.

Longtime chairman Ray Buckley told a Bloomberg News reporters roundtable in Manchester, New Hampshire, that the state’s voters are not as divided as they have been in past primaries, including 2016.

“Nobody is saying this cycle -- which is very different -- ‘I’m only supporting this person,’” he said.

Buckley said this primary is not like contentious fights he’s watched in the state in the past like George McGovern versus Edmund Muskie in 1972, Jimmy Carter versus Ted Kennedy in 1980 and Gary Hart versus Walter Mondale in 1984.

He said that at the state party convention in September he saw delegates holding up signs for many different candidates, even when they weren’t their top pick.

“They are so eager to show support and affection for all of these candidates,” he said. “Can you imagine last time? A Bernie supporter would not be waving a Hillary sign and a Hillary supporter would not have been waving a Bernie sign.”

Buckley predicted that Tuesday’s primary would have a “reasonable turnout, but not an overwhelming turnout,” in part because of that.

After the Democratic debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester on Friday, Buckley said he was getting texts and phone calls about Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar’s strong performance, but he didn’t think the debate would change the race overall.

“There was nobody that laid a knockout punch,” he said.

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in Manchester, New Hampshire at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan Crane, Max Berley

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