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Are New Hampshire GOP Primary Voters Tired of Texas Candidates?

Ben Philpott/KUT News; YouTube screenshot
Ted Cruz speaks in New Hampshire; Rick Perry appears on Fox News earlier this year.

From George W. Bush to Ron Paul to Rick Perry — and now Ted Cruz and, presumably, Perry together — the New Hampshire Republican Presidential Primary has had a Texan on the ticket for a while. And while Republicans in Texas may say that with pride, how do the people of New Hampshire feel about Texans in the race?

By and large, most New Hampshire residents said they weren’t feeling the “Texas fatigue” one might expect with the continual stable of Lone Star candidates. In the case of Cruz, who was there last weekend kicking off his campaign, his proposals outshone any regional biases. In the case of Perry, some primary voters showed surprising support for a candidate who placed sixth in the 2012 contest.

“I don’t care what color they are, I don’t care where they’re from. But, if they’re going to support American principles and stand by the constitution and believe in a sovereign nation and that we’re not a world organization, I’m for that candidate.” — John Olexa
“If anybody has Texas fatigue it’s Democrats. You know the person’s the person. Just because he comes from a geographical area down South in the middle, doesn’t mean he’s got some kind of attitudinal problem.” — David Sherman
“We think that Texas, look at what Texas is doing nationwide. Texas is doing what the country should be doing. Not to steal any thunder away from Sen. Cruz, that’s what we kind of like about Gov. Perry. While Sen. Cruz can talk anecdotally about all of these things that would be awesome. Gov. Perry did it.” — Tom Fergus

In his first run, Perry came in sixth place here, not even pulling in one percent of primary votes.  

However, it appears that not only is Texas fatigue a non-issue, some voters may be willing to give Perry a second chance.

But before you think that New Hampshire voters would give this kind of blanket amnesty to any and all candidates, think again.

"No we don’t," said Amherst resident Stephanie Houghton. "They don’t get fatigued by where they’re from, unless it’s Massachusetts."

While we all have our issues with neighboring states, the former Massachusetts governor and part-time New Hampshire resident Mitt Romney won the 2012 GOP primary here.

Ben Philpott is the Managing Editor for KUT. Got a tip? Email him at bphilpott@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @BenPhilpottKUT.
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