Cornerstone Celebrates Primary Election Successes for Families First Candidates

MANCHESTER, N.H.—With the results of New Hampshire’s primary elections essentially settled, Cornerstone is excited to report that all 24 of the candidates supported by Cornerstone PAC have advanced to the general election, and 82 percent of the candidates who signed Cornerstone Action’s Families First Pledge won their primary elections on Tuesday.

“I couldn’t be happier that voters responded so well to Cornerstone’s Families First Pledge, which articulates Cornerstone Action’s high-level strategy for advancing traditional values and the natural rights of families all across New Hampshire for the next two years,” said Shannon McGinley, Cornerstone’s acting executive director. “Even better than this achievement, however, was the election of all 24 of the incumbents that Cornerstone’s PAC chose to highlight in its Candidate Corner feature. We were very happy to play a role in their advancement to the general election by simply telling their individual stories.”

Cornerstone Action’s Families First Pledge was announced in July as an effort to endorse, elect and educate the next group of conservative leaders for the New Hampshire Legislature. The Families First Pledge required all signers, Democrat and Republican, to commit their legislative votes to bills that advance citizens’ rights of conscience and religion, protect innocent human life, defend the natural family and traditional marriage, restore the natural rights of parents to raise, educate and care for their own children, and enact free market economic policies to ensure prosperity in New Hampshire.

As of the day before the primary election, 85 candidates for state representative, state senator and executive offices—all of them Republican—had signed the Families First Pledge. After the votes were counted, 70 of these pledge signers, or 82 percent, advanced to face a Democratic opponent for the Nov. 6 general election. It’s important to note that several of the 15 candidates who didn’t make it past their primary were in races with other pledge signers who won, so Cornerstone’s 82 percent success rate is actually a conservative estimate of how well the organization’s pledge signers did in Tuesday’s primary.

To educate voters about candidates who signed the Families First Pledge, Cornerstone Action released its 2012 Families First Voter Guide one week before the primary election. Cornerstone updated the voter guide in real time through primary election day to ensure that all candidates who actually signed the Families First Pledge were duly noted for prospective voters. Additionally, to give voters context to some of the candidates who signed the pledge, Cornerstone also listed how incumbent candidates rated on Cornerstone’s 2011-2012 Legislative Scorecard. The scorecard was based on 39 roll call votes in the House and 20 roll call votes in the Senate from the just-completed legislative session, and high scores suggest support for Cornerstone’s agenda during the past session.

On top of the work of Cornerstone Action, Cornerstone PAC highlighted 24 high-scoring incumbents facing a primary election as part of its previously unannounced Candidate Corner feature. Each Candidate Corner article focused on the personal achievements of the featured candidates during the past session and also presented their personal goals for the coming term. Every Friday before the primary, the PAC e-mailed a Candidate Corner feature to its list, which includes thousands of supporters across the state. The PAC then broke down the articles into a Web site for each candidate to use to promote their primary campaigns. Impressively, all 24 of the incumbents Cornerstone PAC featured in its Candidate Corner articles won their primary elections on Tuesday.

Because of the success of its Candidate Corner, Cornerstone PAC will continue to feature incumbent candidates up until the general election to ensure that the most loyal Cornerstone leaders in the Legislature make it back to Concord. Also before the election, Cornerstone Action will release a general election guide that includes all of the candidates, Democrat or Republican, who have signed Cornerstone’s Families First Pledge.

With the primary election of its 24 featured incumbents and 70 pledge signers, Cornerstone is now preparing its 2013-2014 Legislative Agenda so incumbent candidates can begin to file some of the Families First legislation for the upcoming session. With the first legislative filing period beginning on Monday, expect the release of Cornerstone’s Legislative Agenda within the next few days.

CORNERSTONE’S FAMILIES FIRST PLEDGE SIGNERS AND CANDIDATE CORNER PRIMARY WINNERS

Executive Office Primary Winners

Governor Ovide Lamontagne