Here Comes the (Berlin Daily) Sun

Bosse has high hopes for North Country leg of campaign

Craig Lyons

BERLIN — Republican congressional candidate Grant Bosse has only been on the campaign trail for two weeks and already put 2,000 miles on his car.

“I want to be here early and often,’ said Bosse, 35, of Hillsboro. He spent Monday touring the North Country and stopped for an interview with the "Berlin Daily Sun".

Bosse said he wants to make sure he is a presence in the area leading up to the Republican primary and general election. Quoting Executive Councilor Ray Burton, Bosse said, "You campaign like you’re three votes behind.”

Though this is Bosse’s first campaign, he has worked in New Hampshire politics for the past nine years. He worked as a senior legislative assistant in the N.H. House of Representatives majority office, volunteered for the N.H. Republican Party, volunteered for numerous legislative candidates and serving as press secretary and political director for former Governor Craig Benson’s campaign.

Before starting off the campaign, Bosse spent five years on Senator John Sununu’s staff, in Washington D.C.

This track record of working in politics is why Bosse touts himself as the candidate with the most experience in Washington, even Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes, he said. Bosse said he is also the candidate with the broadest range of experience from working on the local, state and federal levels.

But after spending so many years working for politicians, Bosse decided it was time for him to step out and express his own ideas by running for the congressional seat.
“I saw a Republican Congress lose its way in Washington and a Democratic Congress pick up the same bad habits and a few of their own,” said Bosse. “I saw a need for new candidates with new energy to step forward and to put Congress back on track.”
Bosse is centering his campaign around three core principles. He added he feels these should also be the core priorities of Congress.

The first is national defense, Bosse said it should be Congress’ top priority
He added congress has played some political games with that responsibility over the past year and a half.

Bosse’s second priority is enforcing immigration laws and securing our borders. He added Congress needs to convince the American people they are serious about fixing the problems with immigration.

One example Bosse cited was the construction of a border fence that fell by the wayside. He added the fence was approved but members of Congress, including Hodes, voted against funding the fence.

The third priority Bosse listed is freeing up the economy by cutting taxes, mandates and regulations that are stopping it from growing.

Bosse said in places like the North Country where the economy has been hurting for a while, these areas can’t afford the national economy to take a turn for the worse.

“We need to get government out of the way of economic recovery,” said Bosse.
Bosse said measures like lowering taxes and easing regulations on small business will help with the economic recovery process by creating new jobs.

Bosse listed these three items as his top priorities and said he will leave the local decision making to the individual communities in the second district.

“I’m saying the same thing in Berlin as I’m saying in Nashua,” said Bosse.

But aside from communicating his positions on the the issues, Bosse said he encourages voters in the North Country to let him know the ways Congress can help them and the areas Congress is not helping.

Bosse said he has a very simple strategy as he’s hitting the campaign trail: Meet a lot of people, answer their questions and tell them what you believe in. He added he needs to find out how his priorities will effect people’s daily lives.

“It’s going to be a lot of work,” said Bosse. “And we’ve got six months to do it.”