Leavitt, 25, aims to be youngest congresswoman to be elected
MANCHESTER, N. H.>> Karoline Leavitt recalls being in her New Hampshire college dining hall in 2018, filling out an application for a White House intern job while her friends were tailgating at a football game.
“I remember thinking, ‘If I made this opportunity, it’s worth missing any football game in the world,’” she told The AP in an interview.
She got the job. That eventually led to a position in President Donald Trump’s White House press office, then another as communications director for Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.
Inspired by Stefanik, the youngest woman elected to Congress when she won in 2014 at age 30, Leavitt is now running for a House seat of her own. At age 25, she could make history on Election Day, Nov. 8: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez, D-N.Y., won at 29 in 2018.
Leavitt, an unabashed pro-trump Republican, would also be the youngest person in the next session of Congress if she were to defeat two-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in one of the most competitive races this year. Leavitt is seven months younger then fellow Gen Z candidate Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Florida Democrat favored in his race.
The New Hampshire contest will test the appeal of a far-right candidate in a Democratic-leaning state in a midterm election that historically has served as a referendum on the current president.
The 1st Congressional District has a history of switching between parties. It flipped five times in seven elections before Pappas, now 42, won the open seat in 2018. The district includes Manchester, the state’s most populous city, Portsmouth on the Seacoast and rural communities farther north.
Leavitt won her 10-way Republican primary in September in part by going to the right of the other candidates, including Matt Mowers, the party’s 2020 nominee. Mowers also worked in the Trump administration and has said he believed there were voting irregularities in the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
“I consistently continue to be the only candidate in this race who says that I believe the 2020 election was undoubtedly stolen from President Trump,” Leavitt said during a debate a week before the primary.
Numerous federal and local election officials of both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no evidence of that. Trump recently endorsed Leavitt, calling her “fantastic.”
“Matt Mowers had solid Trump credentials,” said Dante Scala, a University of New Hampshire professor of political science. “And yet she managed to out-trump him … and that meant also expressing a lie about a stolen election without reservation.”
Pappas called Leavitt extreme and said her claims about the 2020 election “are not based in truth or reality” and are “dangerous.” Leavitt contends that Pappas and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., “are the real extremists,” citing their support for a federal elections bill named after the late Rep. John Lewis, D- Ga., that would have created national automatic voter registration, allowed all voters to cast ballots by mail and weakened voter ID laws, among other things.
Leavitt has been campaigning for stronger parental rights in schools and increased domestic energy production. She has the endorsement of Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, a moderate who backed Trump’s reelection bid.
“Washington is broken, and it won’t get fixed if we keep sending the same people back there,” said Sununu, who lives in the 1st District. “Karoline Leavitt is the new voice and principled vote New Hampshire needs in Congress.”
Pappas and Leavitt have little in common beyond backgrounds in family small businesses — his at a restaurant known for its ice cream, hers working at an ice cream stand and at a used truck and car dealership.
The two have sparred over inflation, the future of Social Security and abortion.
Leavitt contends that the Inf lation Reduction Act, which Pappas voted for, will increase inflation at a time when families are struggling.
Pappas notes that the new law has capped outof-pocket costs for older adults on Medicare and provides energy rebates for businesses and families. He said it is fully paid for, will lower energy and health costs, and will reduce the deficit by $1.9 trillion over 20 years.
On Social Security, Pappas has accused Leavitt of wanting to privatize it “and gamble it on the stock market.” Leavitt said she would work to protect the benefits of anyone who has paid into the system and is open to “alternative solutions that will ensure a better future for your children and grandchildren.” She said Pappas wants to raise taxes on high earners to continue supporting Social Security.