Leading Democratic candidate for governor Joyce Craig of Manchester broke her silence this past week, though she offered neither support nor opposition to Biden.

“I was mayor of Manchester when Donald Trump was President so I know Donald Trump is unfit to be president. We must defeat him. I watched the debate, and like many Granite Staters, I have concerns,” Craig said in a statement.

“President Biden needs to demonstrate he can run a strong campaign and serve for the next four years. That’s what I’m looking for, and what Granite Staters deserve, because we have to defeat Donald Trump to protect our freedoms and build a strong economy here in New Hampshire.”

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who has endorsed Craig, reportedly has said Biden’s campaign is “irretrievable,” but when asked this past week about his fitness for office, she gave an answer similar to Craig’s.

Craig’s primary rival, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, had a similar take, neither embracing Biden unequivocally or condemning him in her own statement.

“Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal for our country and our state, but I have heard from a lot of Granite Staters who have genuine concerns about him, so as the President has recognized, he needs to get out there and prove he has what it takes to beat Donald Trump,’ Warmington said.

“I’m focused on defeating Kelly Ayotte so that, no matter who is president, here in New Hampshire we can protect reproductive freedom, defend public education, and solve our affordable housing crisis.”

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who won a six-year term last year, is the only one in the delegation to back Biden without reservation.

Republicans were less forgiving, to both Biden and Democratic gubernatorial candidates.

“It’s been nearly two weeks since Joe Biden’s abysmal debate performance. The fact that Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington have continued to refuse to tell Granite Staters if they believe the leader of their Party is still fit to serve, or if they still support him as the nominee, is shameful,” said Courtney Alexander, communications director for the Republican Governors Association.

“New Hampshire voters deserve an answer — and a simple yes or no would suffice.”

Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte mocked Craig this past week, with her campaign posting a picture on social media showing her meeting outside a Democratic fundraiser with California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“If you want to know what kind of policies Joyce Craig would bring to our state, look no further than the company she keeps. Commonsense Granite Staters don’t want the high-tax, soft-on-crime policies from states like California or Massachusetts anywhere near New Hampshire,” Ayotte said.

Late this past week, Craig got a boost from Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, of Walpole.

In a fundraising email, Burns said Craig was “up against a far-right extremist,” whom he did not mention by name.

“Now, we find ourselves at an incredibly dangerous moment in our nation’s history,” Burns wrote.

“Our core democratic values and freedoms are under threat from demagogues and extremists who do not value the rights and liberties of all Americans.”

Gov. Chris Sununu doesn’t believe Biden is going anywhere, but if he steps aside, there won’t be a competition to replace him.

“It could only be (Vice President) Kamala Harris. Remember, two things are happening: The Democrats consistently are pushing this false narrative (of an open convention) and then they will coronate someone that has not gotten a single vote?” Sununu said.

“How democratic is that?”

Despite national polls suggesting otherwise, Sununu said Harris would do worse than Biden in the battleground states that will decide this election.

Despite his record as a Trump critic, Sununu looked into attending the upcoming GOP convention in Milwaukee before ultimately deciding to forgo it.

“I think Milwaukee is a lovely town but way too small to hold a major party convention (with) the security concerns, traffic,” Sununu said.

He said the closest hotel room he could find was 90 minutes away.

“It just didn’t work in my schedule; I’ve still got the day job,” Sununu said.

Sununu praised the RNC for changing the platform to eliminate support for a federal abortion ban and instead leave the matter to the states.

“It is much simpler and very clear that the average person can identify with,” Sununu said.

“I think the changes they have made are a great signal to the American people.”

Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cinde Rosenwald of Nashua came out for 2nd Congressional District candidate and former U.S. Justice Department executive Maggie Goodlander, who grew up in the Gate City.

Goodlander’s primary rival, former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern of Concord, picked up the backing of Lebanon Mayor Tim McNamara and Claremont Mayor Dale Girard.

Sununu claimed Biden’s troubles have “put the 2nd District in play.”

“We’ve got two candidates with great personal stories,” Sununu said, alluding to Lincoln businessman Vikram Mansharamani, the son of Pakistani immigrants, and Lily Tang Williams of Weare, a college professor who was born in China.

Under state election law, independent expenditure groups can’t coordinate with candidates, but one group appears to be on the side of Ayotte’s bid for governor.

Live Free N.H. first registered to take part in the 2024 election cycle last fall. Its treasurer is Nick Pappas, a former Manchester Ward alderman and past presidential campaign aide.

Thus far, the group has spent $200,000, mostly to pay consultants.

According to campaign finance reports, there appear to be financial connections between the Ayotte for Governor campaign and the group, which thus far has raised more than $400,000, compared with the $4.2 million Ayotte has collected on her own:

Paul McKeon, of Portsmouth, gave $85,000 to Live Free and $25,000 to the Kelly PAC, which was exploring a run for governor, and $15,000 to Ayotte’s gubernatorial campaign.

Gregory Wendt, of San Francisco, gave $50,000 to Live Free, $25K to Kelly PAC and $30K to Ayotte’s campaign — $15,000 before she was an official candidate in 2023 and $15K last month.

Linda McMahon, of Greenwich, Connecticut, gave $10,000 to Live Free and $15,000 to Kelly for N.H. The former head of the Small Business Administration under Trump is married to Vince McMahon, co-founder of the WWE wrestling empire.

The candidate and this group also share a pollster, Guidant Polling and Strategy.

Guidant’s co-founding partner, Brooks Kochvar, was a campaign manager for Ayotte’s winning U.S. Senate bid in 2010.

Live Free’s biggest donor, Ed Watkins of West Palm Beach, Florida, ($220,000) has a long history of backing state GOP campaign efforts, including the NH GOP in 2016 ($10,000).

This year he has given $13,000 to Trump and more than $230,000 to the Republican National Committee.

The state Senate Republican primary District 23, where three-term Sen. Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, faces a challenge from first-term Rep. Emily Phillips, R-Fremont, is getting chippy.

The Senate Republican PAC fired the latest shot on social media, branding Phillips a “fake conservative” for opposing a Senate-passed bill to ban so-called “sanctuary city” policies in New Hampshire.

Former Rep. Melissa Blasek, who heads Rebuild NH, and other conservatives came to Phillips’s defense.

“The @NHSenateGOP PAC is lying about Emily Phillips just like they did two years ago when Michael Yakubovich, one of our top liberty reps, ran for State Senate. They are taking money from good Republicans to spread lies like this just to keep out a real conservative fighter,” Blasek posted.

The roll call vote speaks for itself. Phillips was one of only nine House Republicans to support the move by Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-Peterborough, to table the bill.

The 188-177 vote effectively killed it.

Some other well-known conservative House Republicans joined Phillips, including Reps. JR Hoell, R-Dunbarton, and David Testerman, R-Franklin.

At the time, the question was whether the House would amend the Senate-passed bill as proposed by House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield.

In hopes of getting the legislation over the finish line, Roy’s amendment limited the reach of the bill passed by the Senate.

Former Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen of Manchester landed the support of a prominent Republican for his primary bid for the Executive Council’s 4th District.

House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, endorsed him.

“I’ve known John for more than 30 years, and the same is true now as it was then — no one will work harder than John Stephen, and it is my pleasure today to formally endorse John for Executive Council,” Packard said in a statement.

Another GOP rival, former GOP Vice Chairman Ryan Tirrell of Lee, debuted a unique digital media ad focusing on the crushing cost of living residents face.

“It’s time for the next generation of leadership in New Hampshire,” the narrator states.

Friends and colleagues ache for Republican state Senate candidate and state Rep. Mark McConkey, R-Freedom, who lost his son, Jacob, 31, to injuries suffered in a crash on June 15 in West Ossipee near the M&V convenience store owned by his father.

County law enforcement officials said the younger McConkey was on Route 16 turning into the store parking lot on his motorcycle when it was struck from behind by a pickup operated by a Maine man.

Jacob McConkey died from his injuries July 1, and a GoFundMe page set up to support his medical treatment had raised more than $50,000.

“We wish to acknowledge the first responders, all of the medical personnel that attended to our son and the hundreds and hundreds of prayers and well wishes we received from friends, family and his acquaintances,” Mark McConkey wrote in a statement he shared with local media.

“That overwhelming prayer and community support sustained Jake and our family for the days that followed his senseless tragedy.”

No charges have been filed in connection with the crash.

McConkey is seeking the Senate District 3 seat that President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, is retiring from at year’s end.

He will face former state Rep. and physician Bill Marsh, D-Brookfield, in the general election.

While they have yet to put big money toward it, the Senate Democratic Caucus’s plan for flipping the upper chamber from red to blue is pretty clear.

It starts with going from 14-10 to a 12-12 tie by knocking off two GOP incumbents, Denise Ricciardi of Bedford in District 9 and Kevin Avard of Nashua in District 12.

Ricciardi faces a rematch with Bedford Democrat Matthew McLaughlin, whom she defeated by nearly 1,200 votes in 2022.

Avard faces a new challenge from first-term Rep. Ben Ming, D-Hollis, who is seeking to become the first Asian American senator after becoming the first Chinese American to win a seat in the N.H. House in 2022.

In 2022, Avard won a rematch of his own, beating former state Sen. Melanie Levesque, D-Brookline, by 700 votes.

Assuming they can pull off those two upsets, Senate Democrats view their next-best shots at breaking through to be Rusty Talbot of Sugar Hill in the open North County seat in District 1, Marsh in District 3 and either Rep. Pat Long or Manchester school board member Sean Parr in District 20, against Sen. Keith Murphy, D-Manchester.

A new group promoting New Hampshire’s secession from the U.S., NHExit Now, announced its launch this past week.

Carla Gericke, a former Free State Project leader and Libertarian Party candidate, is heading the effort.

In 2022, only 13 House Republicans supported the concept, and the Ballot Law Commission later that year denied a bid to knock those supporters off the ballot because of their views.

The New Hampshire Journal reported that Mark Edgington, a candidate for the House from Hudson, was convicted of a 1989 murder in Florida when he was 17.

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and released after eight.

Edgington, who was in the Free State Project, said he has worked to build GOP and local credentials as a volunteer firefighter.

Felony convictions have never stopped candidates from serving in the Legislature.

Rep. Jason Gerhard, R-Northfield, won his House seat in 2022, a short time after he was released after serving 12 years in federal prison on gun and conspiracy charges related to his support for convicted tax evaders Elaine and Edward Brown.

He is running for Merrimack County sheriff this fall.

Edgington’s win in the GOP primary is far from guaranteed.

He is running for one of two House seats representing Litchfield and Hudson.

The two incumbents — three-term Reps. Tony and Alicia Lekas, R-Hudson — aren’t running again.

His GOP foes are former House Deputy Speaker Kim Rice, R-Hudson, and eight-term Rep. Ralph Boehm, R-Litchfield, who is running in this different district.