NH Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley is the longest serving state party chair in America, going back to 2007. He has truly seen it all, being involved in state politics for over 50 years (he started well before he could get a driver's license) – from growing up with the state being a safe GOP presidential win through the 1970s and 80s, through a stretch where Democrats won 9 out of 10 gubernatorial races between 1996 and 2014, to its current unique combination of consistent federal victories with more recent struggles against a state GOP led by GenX Governors Chris Sununu and Kelly Ayotte.

Of course, New Hampshire is also famous for our First In The Nation Presidential Primary, more than a century old. In recent years, it has been under much deeper scrutiny by the Democratic National Committee, who in 2024 approved a change in the traditional order. (New Hampshire still went first, but South Carolina was given the DNC's official blessing to be FITN.) Now, Chairman Buckley leads a team making its case (effectively, it appears) that the path back to The White House for Democrats should indeed start in New Hampshire. That decision will be made later this summer, and the stakes are high for a party desperate to succeed President Trump in 2028.

In this episode, Ray and I have a wide-ranging conversation about the FITN process; the strengths of NH's case to the DNC; the political landscape heading into 2026, including what other election cycles seem to rhyme most closely with the current Democratic-friendly environment; and then we have a great discussion about the way to win in NH, and what Democrats need to do to build a true majority coalition that includes the suburban voters newer to the party *and* the blue-collar voters who were once the backbone of the party.

#nhpolitics