23-year-old Republican Karoline Leavitt launches bid to flip New Hampshire House seat

By Andrew Trunsky

Karoline Leavitt, a former assistant press secretary in the Trump administration, announced a congressional bid in New Hampshire Monday.

Leavitt, 23, most recently served as the communications director for New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. She is running in the state’s 1st congressional district in hopes of unseating Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, and would be the youngest woman elected to Congress in American history if she wins.

In an announcement video released Monday, she blasted Democrats and the media while invoking her past work in the White House.

“In D.C., I watched in disgust as President Biden and the radical Democrats completely dismantled the progress we made under President Trump in just six months,” Leavitt said. “The radical Left has one goal: stealing more power for themselves and taking our freedoms to do it, even if it means destroying our country along the way.”

She also mentioned Twitter’s temporarily suspending of her account, which the company said was a mistake.

“Everywhere you look, conservatives – myself included – are being censored and silenced. And our freedoms to speak freely, think independently, go to church and operate our own businesses are being infringed by radical Democrats.”

“It’s not just about me,” she added. “It’s about conservatives in New Hampshire and across our country who truly feel like their voices are not being heard.”

Leavitt is the fourth Republican to announce a bid to try and unseat Pappas, who has held the seat since 2018.

In an interview with New Hampshire outlet WMUR, Leavitt said that she would emphasize her roots and blue-collar upbringing in the state.

“Getting into this race for me truly is personal because I love this state so much,” she said. “I think it’s incredibly important that our elected officials can resonate with voters because they understand the voters because they were raised here and truly adhere to New Hampshire values in their own lives.”

She added that if elected, she would support “election integrity” measures Republicans are pushing in states nationwide, Trump-era border policies and Critical Race Theory bans that she said amounted to “indoctrination.”

“If I’m honored by being elected to serve, I would always stick to my conservative guns,” she said. “I would never back down from my conservative beliefs because I believe that’s what the people of New Hampshire want and truly need.”

Pappas beat another former Trump administration official by over five points in 2020, but his district could become more competitive depending on how Republicans redraw it during the decennial redistricting process. While he held a positive approval rating in his district in a New Hampshire poll from February, it stood at only 43%.

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Image courtesy of Karoline Leavitt