Dan Feltes and Andru Volinsky, the Democratic Candidates for Governor, Go After Each Other and Chris Sununu As They Make a Last-Minute Pitch for Votes on New Hampshire Primary Day.
Dan Feltes, the majority leader of the New Hampshire Senate and Andru Volinsky, a member of the Executive Council of New Hampshire, have been campaigning to be their party’s choice to run against Governor Chris Sununu. The Democratic Party Primary is being held today, Tuesday, September 8th.
In two separate interviews with WKXL’s Chris Ryan, the Democratic Party candidates discuss why they should be challenging Governor Chris Sununu on November 3 in the General Election.
Dan Feltes believes that his experience in the legislature has shown that he can work collaboratively with Democrats and Republicans to achieve progressive results. Andru Volinsky feels that Granite Staters should vote for him because he refuses to take the pledge against a New Hampshire income tax or sales tax. Also, Volinsky has opposed pipelines for fracked gas and supported the Green New Deal.
A significant issue has arisen over the commutation of Michael Addison, who is on death row for the 2006 murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs. In a recent debate, both Feltes and Volinsky stated that they would commute Addison’s sentence. Kelly Ayotte, the former Republican U.S. senator who pursued the death penalty against Addison as the state’s attorney general and led the effort in court, has condemned the thought of commuting the sentence of a cop killer. Governor Sununu has declared that he wouldn’t consider commuting Addison’s sentence.
When asked about commuting the sentence of Michael Addison, Dan Feltes repeatedly stated that he would allow the process to play out—meaning he would not rule until he was presented with a petition for commutation. Andru Volinsky believes that New Hampshire’s recent repeal of the death penalty would make executing Michael Addison unconstitutional. Andru Volinsky throughout his legal career has fought against the death penalty and defended many death row inmates. He maintains that the death penalty is racist and classist and that overwhelmingly it is poor and black prisoners who are executed. Andru Volinsky claims that the Republicans are misrepresenting his and Dan Feltes position. They both would commute Michael Addison’s death sentence to a life sentence. They have no intention of setting him free.
