In response to a shooting where four people were killed at a high school in Georgia – Lily Tang Williams cited her endorsement from 18 local gun shops and said gun-free zones can cost lives. She wants more Americans to arm themselves, which is their “God-given right,” and be trained to use their weapons. 

Bill Hamlen said he couldn’t imagine the pain of parents whose kids were at that high school – he has two teenage daughters himself  – but solutions to prevent these tragedies lie in school security.

Vikram Mansharamani agreed. The aftermath of a shooting is unthinkable, but the root cause is the mental health challenges of students, not the guns in their hands. 

News of the shooting outside of Atlanta spread hours before a Republican debate for the nomination in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, which Rep. Annie Kuster is vacating.

In a crowded field of 13, frontrunners Hamlen, Mansharamani and Williams presented overlapping policy platforms and sought to distinguish themselves during a New England College debate. 

The divide came in their beliefs about the 2020 election. Mansharamani and Hamlen were quick to give a definitive stance  – no, the election was not stolen and President Joe Biden rightfully won. 

Williams on the other hand did not directly answer the question. She had looked forward to seeing the evidence from the election, that was until the January 6 riot happened. She said she believes that Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg was pressured by the government to censor content on COVID-19. The pandemic led to an influx of mail-in ballots, which she still questions. 

Despite quips from Mansharamani to answer yes or no, she didn't have a one-word answer. 

“It was not honest," she said.  

The state of the economy sounded a unanimous alarm bell. 

To Mansharamani the country is “spending like drunken sailors on shore leave."

Hamlen turned to the words of Milton Friedman, citing “government overspending” as the cause of inflation. 

Williams critiqued foreign aid for countries like Ukraine. “We need to put the priorities in our country and spend on our people," she said. 

Support for Israel was a resounding yes. Decisions on abortion should remain in the hands of state government. And term limits for politicians should be in place, they all agreed. 

At 94-years-old, Hamlen’s father has been looking for Congressional term limits his entire life, he said. When Mansharamani was in middle school, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi was elected to office. Williams has signed a pledge to support restricting service to three terms in the U.S. House and two terms in the Senate. 

She’d like to debate Democrats on their stances, next, she said. 

None of the three candidates have held elected office before. 

Hamlen, a first-time candidate, positioned himself as a “common sense conservative,” who has experience in commodity trading and property management. 

Mansharamani ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2022. He introduced himself as a businessman, rather than a politician. With four advanced degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University, he would bring his experience in the private sector forward. 

Williams looked to challenge Kuster in 2022, but lost in the party primary. She also previously ran as a libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in Colorado in 2016 and for a House seat in 2014. 

Immigrating to the United States from China, she said she embodies the American dream and has a duty to give back to the country by holding office. 

Recent polling from the University of New Hampshire in late August showed Mansharamani leading the crowd with 21 percent of prospective voters saying they’d vote for him, versus 17 percent for Williams and 4 percent for Hamlen. Half of the voters polled were undecided.