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The two major Republicans in the campaign leading to the Sept. 8 primary for the 1st Congressional District U.S. House seat share similar views on a wide range of issues, but have taken far different paths to their candidacies.>> Download the free WMUR appMatt Mayberry of Dover finds irony in the perspective that after being involved in Republican politics in the Granite State for 30 years, he’s now the “outsider” in the primary. Matt Mowers, a 31-year-old Bedford resident who has been involved in politics since his high school days, says he has had plenty of experience working in the GOP grassroots of the Granite State while also gaining knowledge of how Washington and the international diplomacy works based on several years at the U.S. State Department.The primary winner will challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas of Manchester in the general election. Mowers, who has received the endorsement of President Donald Trump in the primary, was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey, is a graduate of Rutgers University and worked closely with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in both Christie’s governor’s office and on his campaigns.Although Mowers was subpoened by the Democratic-run New Jersey Legislature in 2014 to testify in its probe into the scandal that involved lane closures near the George Washington Bridge, known as “Bridgegate,” he never was implicated.He was a key confidante of Christie as he arrived in the state just two years after graduating from college to take on the top staff job at the New Hampshire Republican Party.Mowers has since become a well-known player in state GOP politics first as executive director of the party and then as Christie’s New Hampshire director during the 2016 presidential primary campaign.Mayberry, 55, a former vice chair of the New Hampshire GOP, has organized scores of events for Republican candidates up and down the tickets for many election cycles.More than a decade after serving as a city councilor and school board member in Dover – and after serving on the board chair of the New Hampshire Commission on Human Rights — Mayberry decided earlier this year to make his first attempt at a major elective office.Mowers, who is making his first run for any elective office, says that despite being labeled a carpetbagger by Mayberry and the state Democratic Party, he has been no stranger to New Hampshire. Mowers says part of his childhood was spent on the New Hampshire Seacoast when his father, a construction worker and diver, worked on the construction of the cooling water intake and discharge system at the Seabrook nuclear power plant. After Christie dropped out of the presidential race following a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary, and after Trump secured the GOP nomination, Mowers joined the Trump general election campaign as battleground states coordinator. Trump won the 2016 election, and Mowers moved into a key role on the transition team. He was then appointed by the Trump administration as a senior White House adviser and worked as chief of staff to Dr. Deborah Birx, currently the White House coronavirus response coordinator.Mowers, who is married, returned to New Hampshire after leaving the State Department in March 2019 and made his home and started a consulting firm in Bedford. When Mowers secured Trump’s endorsement in June, he also picked up the endorsement of several Trump allies and has been receiving grassroots organizing help from Trump Victory, the combined efforts of the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee.Mayberry embraced the underdog role. Endorsed by several well-known GOP leaders in July, he said, “New Hampshire leaders and voters alike are beginning to notice that our campaign is the only true New Hampshire campaign and that the only way that Republicans will defeat Chris Pappas in November is by nominating a real New Hampshire conservative, not a Washington, D.C., insider.”“I’m a big boy,” Mayberry said after Trump endorsed Mowers. But he added, “The people of New Hampshire want to make their own decisions.”But Mayberry also points out that while Mowers was working against Trump and on behalf of Christie during the 2016 campaign, “I stood on stage five times with Donald Trump in the state of New Hampshire and introduced him to thousands of people.”He also said he was a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2016 and is a delegate this year as well.Mowers said the Trump endorsement shows that he’s the only “true conservative” in the primary race. His campaign has been responding to attacks by Mayberry, but for the most part has been focusing on Pappas in anticipation of a general election matchup.Mowers says that while Pappas went to Washington promising to be an independent voice for the district, instead he has become a clone of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voting to support her positions 100 percent of the time. Mowers’ connections in Washington, New Jersey, as well as New Hampshire, have boosted his fundraising to the point that he has been able to put three ads on television, while Mayberry has yet to advertise. As of the end of the second quarter on June 30, Mowers had raised $572,000 and had $440,000 on hand, while Mayberry had raised $152,000 and had $73,000 on hand.Mayberry was brought up in Gorham, Maine, in a single-parent household. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he moved to New Hampshire as a young person and has lived in Dover throughout his adult life.He is openly gay and a leader of the New Hampshire Log Cabin Republicans, noting that if he is the nominee, the general election “will be “historic.” Pappas became the first openly gay Granite Stater to be elected to Congress in 2018.Mowers and Mayberry describe themselves as conservative.Mowers said he learned how to deal with pandemics while serving at the State Department’s Global Health Office, where he said he helped lead a worldwide program to combat HIV. Mowers said he called for a travel ban from China in late January, two days before Trump ordered it.Mayberry is believed to be the first candidate for a major office to return to in-person campaigning and said in June that he was not wearing a face mask in public. “You’re an individual and you’re responsible for your own health and your own actions,” he said. “I take ‘Live Free or Die’ seriously.”Both candidates oppose the Affordable Care Act and support more individual choice for Americans to able choose a health care plan with costs driven lower by competition. Both support Trump’s border wall to curb illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs into the country.Mayberry also supports drone technology to patrol the areas of the border where he says a wall is unnecessary or not feasible.Mowers and Mayberry both support term limits and have signed the U.S. Term Limits Pledge to serve no more than three two-year terms.Mowers is pro-life but supports exemptions to allow abortions in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. Mayberry said that while he considers himself pro-choice, he supports he supports “born alive protection” legislation, a waiting period and parental notification, and he opposes late-term abortions and federal funding for Planned Parenthood.“For the first eight weeks of a pregnancy, it’s between a woman and her health care provider,” Mayberry said, explaining his position. “Between eight and 12 weeks, there should be a 24-hour waiting period, and after that it gets restricted.”Both describe themselves as strongly pro-Second Amendment and both oppose “red flag” laws. Both are members of the NRA, both support national reciprocity. Mayberry says that he organized gun shows in New Hampshire and Maine, “supporting hundreds of small businesses and welcoming thousands of Second Amendment supporters.”Both say they are strong supporters of law enforcement.Mowers says, “Chris Pappas, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of their party have turned their back on our law enforcement officers.”Mowers cites Pappas’ support for ending qualified immunity, which, he says, “would expose police officers and their families to frivolous lawsuits” and would lead to “mass resignations of law enforcement officers.”Mayberry stresses his support for fellow veterans.“One of the reasons I got into this race is because I found four veterans who were going to lose their access to mental health care because the VA didn’t pay their bills,” Mayberry said. “Mr. Pappas has allowed the VA to run up $134 million of unpaid medical bills here in the state of New Hampshire. That is atrocious.”He believes members of Congress should get their health care through the VA system.>>READ more on the candidates positions on major issues here.

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

The two major Republicans in the campaign leading to the Sept. 8 primary for the 1st Congressional District U.S. House seat share similar views on a wide range of issues, but have taken far different paths to their candidacies.

>> Download the free WMUR app

Matt Mayberry of Dover finds irony in the perspective that after being involved in Republican politics in the Granite State for 30 years, he’s now the “outsider” in the primary.

Matt Mowers, a 31-year-old Bedford resident who has been involved in politics since his high school days, says he has had plenty of experience working in the GOP grassroots of the Granite State while also gaining knowledge of how Washington and the international diplomacy works based on several years at the U.S. State Department.

The primary winner will challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas of Manchester in the general election.

Mowers, who has received the endorsement of President Donald Trump in the primary, was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey, is a graduate of Rutgers University and worked closely with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in both Christie’s governor’s office and on his campaigns.

Although Mowers was subpoened by the Democratic-run New Jersey Legislature in 2014 to testify in its probe into the scandal that involved lane closures near the George Washington Bridge, known as “Bridgegate,” he never was implicated.

He was a key confidante of Christie as he arrived in the state just two years after graduating from college to take on the top staff job at the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Mowers has since become a well-known player in state GOP politics first as executive director of the party and then as Christie’s New Hampshire director during the 2016 presidential primary campaign.

Mayberry, 55, a former vice chair of the New Hampshire GOP, has organized scores of events for Republican candidates up and down the tickets for many election cycles.

More than a decade after serving as a city councilor and school board member in Dover – and after serving on the board chair of the New Hampshire Commission on Human Rights — Mayberry decided earlier this year to make his first attempt at a major elective office.

Mowers, who is making his first run for any elective office, says that despite being labeled a carpetbagger by Mayberry and the state Democratic Party, he has been no stranger to New Hampshire.

Mowers campaign

Mowers says part of his childhood was spent on the New Hampshire Seacoast when his father, a construction worker and diver, worked on the construction of the cooling water intake and discharge system at the Seabrook nuclear power plant.

After Christie dropped out of the presidential race following a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary, and after Trump secured the GOP nomination, Mowers joined the Trump general election campaign as battleground states coordinator.

Trump won the 2016 election, and Mowers moved into a key role on the transition team. He was then appointed by the Trump administration as a senior White House adviser and worked as chief of staff to Dr. Deborah Birx, currently the White House coronavirus response coordinator.

Mowers, who is married, returned to New Hampshire after leaving the State Department in March 2019 and made his home and started a consulting firm in Bedford.

When Mowers secured Trump’s endorsement in June, he also picked up the endorsement of several Trump allies and has been receiving grassroots organizing help from Trump Victory, the combined efforts of the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee.

Mayberry embraced the underdog role. Endorsed by several well-known GOP leaders in July, he said, “New Hampshire leaders and voters alike are beginning to notice that our campaign is the only true New Hampshire campaign and that the only way that Republicans will defeat Chris Pappas in November is by nominating a real New Hampshire conservative, not a Washington, D.C., insider.”

“I’m a big boy,” Mayberry said after Trump endorsed Mowers. But he added, “The people of New Hampshire want to make their own decisions.”

But Mayberry also points out that while Mowers was working against Trump and on behalf of Christie during the 2016 campaign, “I stood on stage five times with Donald Trump in the state of New Hampshire and introduced him to thousands of people.”

He also said he was a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2016 and is a delegate this year as well.

Mowers said the Trump endorsement shows that he’s the only “true conservative” in the primary race. His campaign has been responding to attacks by Mayberry, but for the most part has been focusing on Pappas in anticipation of a general election matchup.

Mowers says that while Pappas went to Washington promising to be an independent voice for the district, instead he has become a clone of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voting to support her positions 100 percent of the time.

Mowers’ connections in Washington, New Jersey, as well as New Hampshire, have boosted his fundraising to the point that he has been able to put three ads on television, while Mayberry has yet to advertise.

As of the end of the second quarter on June 30, Mowers had raised $572,000 and had $440,000 on hand, while Mayberry had raised $152,000 and had $73,000 on hand.

Mayberry was brought up in Gorham, Maine, in a single-parent household. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he moved to New Hampshire as a young person and has lived in Dover throughout his adult life.

He is openly gay and a leader of the New Hampshire Log Cabin Republicans, noting that if he is the nominee, the general election “will be “historic.”

Pappas became the first openly gay Granite Stater to be elected to Congress in 2018.

Mowers and Mayberry describe themselves as conservative.

Mowers said he learned how to deal with pandemics while serving at the State Department’s Global Health Office, where he said he helped lead a worldwide program to combat HIV.

Mowers said he called for a travel ban from China in late January, two days before Trump ordered it.

Mayberry is believed to be the first candidate for a major office to return to in-person campaigning and said in June that he was not wearing a face mask in public.

“You’re an individual and you’re responsible for your own health and your own actions,” he said. “I take ‘Live Free or Die’ seriously.”

Both candidates oppose the Affordable Care Act and support more individual choice for Americans to able choose a health care plan with costs driven lower by competition. Both support Trump’s border wall to curb illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs into the country.

Mayberry also supports drone technology to patrol the areas of the border where he says a wall is unnecessary or not feasible.

Mowers and Mayberry both support term limits and have signed the U.S. Term Limits Pledge to serve no more than three two-year terms.

Mowers is pro-life but supports exemptions to allow abortions in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother.

Mayberry said that while he considers himself pro-choice, he supports he supports “born alive protection” legislation, a waiting period and parental notification, and he opposes late-term abortions and federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

“For the first eight weeks of a pregnancy, it’s between a woman and her health care provider,” Mayberry said, explaining his position. “Between eight and 12 weeks, there should be a 24-hour waiting period, and after that it gets restricted.”

Both describe themselves as strongly pro-Second Amendment and both oppose “red flag” laws. Both are members of the NRA, both support national reciprocity. Mayberry says that he organized gun shows in New Hampshire and Maine, “supporting hundreds of small businesses and welcoming thousands of Second Amendment supporters.”

Both say they are strong supporters of law enforcement.

Mowers says, “Chris Pappas, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of their party have turned their back on our law enforcement officers.”

Mowers cites Pappas’ support for ending qualified immunity, which, he says, “would expose police officers and their families to frivolous lawsuits” and would lead to “mass resignations of law enforcement officers.”

Mayberry stresses his support for fellow veterans.

“One of the reasons I got into this race is because I found four veterans who were going to lose their access to mental health care because the VA didn’t pay their bills,” Mayberry said. “Mr. Pappas has allowed the VA to run up $134 million of unpaid medical bills here in the state of New Hampshire. That is atrocious.”

He believes members of Congress should get their health care through the VA system.

>>READ more on the candidates positions on major issues here.

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