Around New England

Former Conservative Republican New Hampshire Senator Endorses Joe Biden

January 7, 2020

Former Republican U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey is among the 100 independent New Hampshire voters who publicly endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in his 2020 presidential campaign, as Patch reports.

As WMUR reports, Humphrey was both a fiscal and social conservative during his two terms as a U.S. senator from 1979 to 1991.

However, in recent years, he has been more known for his opposition to President Donald Trump.

Humphrey left the Republican Party in 2016 when Trump got the nomination. During the Republican primary, Humphrey supported former Ohio Governor John Kasich’s campaign.

Humphrey endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 and in 2018, he supported Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District.

Humphrey considered endorsing Trump’s Republican primary challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld. However, he ended up going with Biden and offered praise for his former Senate colleague.

“Not only is he the best qualified by far, but all the polls consistently show that everyone thinks he’s the best, strongest candidate to beat Donald Trump and that’s not going to be easy,” he told WMUR.

Humphrey said his top priority in endorsing a candidate is finding someone who can beat Trump — hence why he is willing to put political differences aside with Biden.

“I’ve never encountered a candidate with whom I agreed 100 percent,” Humphrey told WMUR. “Not even Ronald Reagan, who is one of my heroes and who I supported obviously when I was a Republican.

“That was then,” he added. “This is now. We’re in a very dangerous world. We have some serious challenges confronting us that are growing worse while Trump is busy having tantrums are firing out 20 Twitters a day and getting not very much done.”