With primary elections just months away in New Hampshire, questions are emerging about whether changes will be made to how voters interact with candidates following recent political violence in Washington.
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton. No serious injuries were reported, but the incident raised safety concerns.
“There’s this long-time norm that people expect that they have ready access to politicians, not through intermediaries, but up close and personal,” said University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala.
Meeting voters face-to-face is a standard expected for candidates in New Hampshire.
During the 2024 primaries, Republican candidates made dozens of stops across the state.
“There is this sense that especially out-of-state politicians have to prove themselves to New Hampshire voters. And the way to do that is to interact with them personally, not from a distance,” Scala said.
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With the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner incident being the latest in a series of assassination attempts against President Donald Trump, Scala said Granite Staters may see increased security for federal candidates.
He said, however, that candidates will likely face a delicate balance between protection and maintaining personal connections with voters.
“I think there is going to be some concession on their part to the mood of the time and the number of threats that candidates and people in office are fielding on a daily basis,” Scala said. “It’s becoming too much to ignore. So they’re going to try to find that compromise.”
At the state level, Christopher Vetter, director of safety services at the State House, said that while officials are aware of current events and potential threats, operations remain largely unchanged.
“I would say that, as we’re more aware of what’s going on in the world, I don’t know that it necessarily has changed the way that we operate, in a way, in the security or in the manner in which we play,” Vetter said.