Negative Ads Flood New Hampshire Senate District 18 Race in Manchester and Litchfield
The race for New Hampshire's Senate District 18, covering Manchester and Litchfield, has turned sharply negative as Election Day nears, Manchester Ink Link reported on October 21. Republican incumbent Victoria Sullivan and Democratic challenger Leonard Bell are both running dedicated attack websites, and voters are being flooded with negative advertising.
Republicans have questioned Bell's residency, pointing to a property his wife owns in Seal Cove, New Brunswick, Canada. Property records show Bell is not a co-owner, however, and Manchester records show he has owned a home in the city since August 2016; he and his wife appear on the city's 2025 voter checklist, and his LinkedIn page shows employment at Southern New Hampshire University since 2015. One Republican mailer used an SI-altered image of Bell. Bell's campaign said the attacks show opponents have no record to run on and are lying about a 20-year Navy veteran.
Democrats have attacked Sullivan over the economy, education and data centers, and questioned her connection to a $30 million early-childhood education appropriation; Sullivan responded that she has championed play-based kindergarten education for years and rejected the suggestion she schemed for a side job. In 2024 Sullivan beat then-Democratic Senate leader Donna Soucy by just 748 votes, the state's second-closest Senate race that year; this year's contest is expected to be similarly tight.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：新罕布什尔州议会大厦（Concord）。摄影：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: the New Hampshire State House in Concord. Photo by Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
