Letter on the state of the NHFCR
Concord, NH—On Monday November 23, 2020, Chair of the Federation, Matt Denaro, Released the following letter regarding the state of the federation in lieu of an in-person address.
While we wish that we could reserve a room and meet together to discuss all the hard work that was put into this ever-challenging 2020 election cycle, we couldn’t leave our supporters and chapters without some update on how we’re doing. We look forward to meeting in-person soon, hopefully for an in-person convention come April 2021. Below is the letter Chair Matt Denaro sent to our supporters.
Dear Reader,
When I announced my run for chair of the NHFCR back in January, I promised that College Republicans would work as hard as we could to make sure Republicans had a strong performance in November. Despite every challenge thrown at us this semester, our College Republicans adapted, overcame, and performed beyond anyone’s expectations. Nothing could stop College Republicans across the Granite state from helping our candidates flip our State House. With the commitment and involvement of our seven chapters across the state, we know that we played an important role in the campaigns of our down-ballot candidates and how they will govern in the upcoming term.
When it came to involvement in campaigns, New Hampshire College Republicans were everywhere. Aside from working on President Trump’s campaign, our College Republicans could be seen working for Governor Sununu, Congressional Candidates Matt Mowers and Steve Negron, and Senate Candidate Corky Messner. We believe that our biggest impact was down-ballot though. At the State Senate level, we had College Republicans working as dedicated staff on the Gary Daniels and Denise Ricciardi campaigns, and on the Robert Klisky campaign at the House level--just to name a few. One State House race hit close to home; Saint Anselm’s own Brodie Deshaies is a College Republican elected to represent Wolfeboro. Of course, we didn’t stop there. Each of our chapters played a role in helping these candidates get elected, and as usual, most of our work for these campaigns focused on good old-fashioned, on-ground, and in-person voter contact. We learned that despite COVID, the tried-and-true methods of phone banking and door-knocking is what wins elections here in the Granite State. In total, New Hampshire college Republicans made 123,673 in-person voter contacts this election cycle, which is 8,673 more voter contacts that were made in the 2018 cycle.
But we didn’t stop there. This cycle, to maximize our impact, we ran our first-ever digital ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram for our Granite List members and young Republicans across the state. I am proud to report that our ad campaign made 237,274 impressions on those two social media platforms in social media markets spanning the entirety of the Granite State. We learned a lot from this method of reaching voters, and look forward to building on those lessons learned and increasing the impact they have for election cycles to come. Of course, our main focus was on New Hampshire elections, but we still help out our neighbors in need. We helped out our fellow College Republicans in New York, New Jersey and Maine. Most notably, our work in Maine paid off in pushing Susan Collins over 50% in her most crucial US Senate race, avoiding a second-choice ballot count. Between those three races another 2,234 voter contacts were made, for a grand total of 125,907 voter contacts.
In total, New Hampshire College Republicans were involved in 29 New Hampshire state-level races. Of those 29, 4 were for the Executive Council, 7 were for the State Senate, and 18 were for the State House. For the Executive Council, all 4 races that we were involved in won, and three of them were flipped seats while one was a held seat. Of the State House races, 10 were won while two of them were flipped. Of the State Senate races, all 7 were won, and 4 were flipped seats. Our involvement certainly did help win these seats and we learned that we have the capability to reach so many Granite State voters, and turn them out to vote to protect the New Hampshire advantage.
I want to take a moment before concluding this letter to recognize a person who was incredibly helpful to us as my administration gained its footing. Our transition happened as soon as all of our campuses sent us home early in March. Most of our chapters hadn’t held elections, we couldn’t meet with them or the outgoing administration to discuss strategy; simply put, getting organized was a real challenge. One person stood as our go-to “coach” of sorts. We could rely on him to give us a guiding hand, or push us in the right direction when it was difficult to find the right path forward. Of course, that is in the very character of our coach, the definition of professionalism, Dan Passen. It is my honor to announce today that Mr. Passen is being named an honorary member of the Granite List for everything he has done in helping us along the way through this most challenging but successful election season. On behalf of the board, thank you Dan.
On the whole, this was a successful election cycle for New Hampshire College Republicans. Not only did we accomplish our goals of contributing to flipping our state house, but we experimented with new methods of voter contact and learned from those experiences. The future of this federation remains bright, because our members are dedicated, hard working and are committed to helping protect the New Hampshire Advantage. The 2020 election cycle may be over, but the work we did this year will guide our work for election cycles to come. I know that the great work we did this semester will continue into the spring semester and right into the 2022 midterms.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you for our Convention in April.
-Matt Denaro