Voters explain their choices
As Boston Herald reporters Sean Philip Cotter, Lisa Kashinsky, Mary Markos, Rick Sobey and Erin Tiernan fanned out across New Hampshire for Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary, they took the pulse of a variety of voters. Here are some of their comments:
Roma and John Goldhart, both Manchester, N.H., independents, had been eyeing Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, respectively. But after watching Amy Klobuchar debate Friday night, they made the latestage choice to vote for the Minnesota senator.
“She’s just gotten a lot better and that really solidified on Friday in the debate. It was pretty clear that she’s the one that can win and I think she has the best vision to unify the country,” said John Goldhart.
Roma Goldhart said Klobuchar’s strong debate performance “solidified my hope and belief that she can win and do a great job,” adding, “I think she’s pretty moderate. I think we need someone who can bring both sides to more normalcy and get things done for people.”
Mary Makris of Manchester, N.H., said, “I was actually a Democrat my whole life because my dad told me I was.”
But she switched her party affiliation about six months ago to vote for Trump.
“I think he just has a different delivery,” she said.
Joe Provencher happily voted for Pete Buttigieg, who’d pried his vote away from Bernie Sanders, Provencher’s first favorite.
“Pete’s just a different, new approach to this old Washington stuff,” Provencher said at his Manchester polling spot.
Carol Lee Collins, 58, a Nashua Republican, said she voted for Bill Weld because she “didn’t want (President) Trump to get 100%.”
“I wanted to make a stance,” she said. “This was more against Trump than for Weld.”
Ray Newman, a state representative from Nashua, said he supports Buttigieg because he “can take on Trump.”
“Pete is so smart and will come right back with the facts,” Newman said. “He can take him on.”
Klobuchar’s daughter riffed on Trump’s 2016 campaign promise with one of her own, predicting her mom would “build” a wall of votes on the campaign trail.
“She’s going to build a big, beautiful blue wall of votes and make Donald Trump pay for it,” Abigail Bessler said during a canvass kickoff at Klobuchar’s Manchester, N.H., headquarters Tuesday afternoon.