New England Taking Center Stage as an Ultra-Right Versus Ultra-Left Battleground

With two more primaries to go in New England, the picks so far in the six states that make up the east coast region show that far-right Republicans are winning in high-profile contested primaries.

The biggest upset came in Connecticut when newcomer Leora Levy, who won an unexpected 11th-hour Trump endorsement, beat out party favorite and moderate Themis Klarides for the party nomination for U.S. Senate.

The same happened in Massachusetts where Geoff Diehl won the gubernatorial ticket against moderate Republican Chris Doughty, and in Vermont where Christina Nolan, the favored contender lost to right-wing U.S. Army veteran Gerald Malloy, another newcomer to election politics.

Malloy has the advantage of facing a newcomer on the Democratic side with Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who has held the seat for nearly 50 years, chose against running for another term.

Now it’s New Hampshire and Rhode Island’s turn and both states are showing some similar trends.

Republican candidate for R.I. Gov. Ashley Kalus. (Courtesy of Ashley Kalus)

Ultra-conservative Don Bolduc is leading the pack according to polls in their bid to take on Democrat Maggie Hassan for her U.S. Senate seat.

Trailing Bolduc is House Speaker Chuck Morse, a moderate who won the endorsement of New Hampshire’s Gov. Chris Sununu.

Sununu is seeking re-election to a fourth term and while there are plenty of anti-Sununu Republicans in the state, they say the pool of hard-right candidates gunning for his ouster is probably not strong enough to pull it off.

However, in Rhode Island, another long-time sitting governor Dan McKee, a Democrat, is actually facing the very good possibility of being the first incumbent governor to be ousted in this year’s midterm elections by a party contender.

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea has been showing a consistent slight lead over McKee in the four-candidate