A group of New Hampshire Republicans is considering drafting a resolution that would urge Congress to oppose U.S. military intervention in Syria, potentially placing them at odds with their own senator, Kelly Ayotte.
Manchester City chairman Will Infantine told Yellowhammer Monday that he’s contemplating pushing forward a formal expression of opinion similar to the letter Iowa Republicans signed last week.
The move in the first in the nation primary state is significant because it may reinforce the deeply entrenched opposition to a missile strike that’s festering at the grassroots level of the Republican Party.
It’s too soon to evaluate whether Granite State GOPers will coalesce around an anti-interventionist position the way Iowa Republicans did, but if they do, it would amount to a double-barreled confrontation with the traditional GOP foreign policy view.
While Ayotte said she supported military action in late August, last week, in a newsletter to constituents, she said she was “carefully evaluating the Senate resolution” in light of a classified Armed Services Committee briefing. “I still have additional questions about our military objectives and how we will achieve them and I look forward to hearing what the president will say in his address to the nation,” she wrote.
Asked whether Ayotte’s ultimate Senate floor vote on Syria would impact a potential resolution, Infantine replied, “Kelly is my friend, but no it will not matter.” Infantine is one of 36 listed members of the state executive committee.
Spec Bowers, chairman of the Sullivan County GOP, said he’s found overwhelming opposition to getting involved in a war in Syria.
“I haven’t found a single person who favors it. Some of the leadership oppose it, most apparently don’t want to take a position. With Kelly Ayotte still officially undecided, the leadership may not want to take a position different from her eventual position,” said Bowers, laying out the hurdles to unity on a resolution. ”We might get as many as half of us, but too many ‘leaders’ don’t want to take a position.”
Bowers, who admits he’s a “big Rand Paul fan,” went further and said if Ayotte votes “the wrong way . . . she is likely to face a primary” come 2016.
Chris Sununu, another state executive committee member, also staunchly opposes action against Syria, but said the fate of the resolution could depend on whether Ayotte ultimately votes for the measure.
“[I’m] still not 100% sure what Kelly will do,” he said.
How Ayotte votes will undoubtedly be watched closely by the 2016 field.
The last GOP primary poll of New Hampshire voters — now more than a month old — placed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul at the top of the pack. The two engaged in a highly publicized spat earlier this summer over the libertarian approach to foreign policy, with Christie lambasting it as “dangerous.” But while Paul has been a leading voice against military action in Syria, Christie has not taken a specific position.
While it’s impossible to know whether the Syrian vote will be consequential in the 2016 presidential primary, Bowers suspects most of the contenders are contemplating future ramifications.
“I do think this vote will be very important in the 2016 presidential primary. I will be surprised if any of the contenders vote the wrong way. And politically, with Hillary [Clinton] supporting war, all of our contenders should oppose it,” he said.
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