Ten Republican presidential candidates are in New Hampshire this weekend for a two-day forum hosted by the New Hampshire Republican Party.
The "First in the Nation Leadership Summit" kicked off Friday morning and runs through Saturday afternoon at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashua.
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Scheduled to speak on Friday are Chris Christie, Perry Johnson, Doug Burgum, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Saturday's speakers include Asa Hutchinson, Ryan Binkley, Tim Scott and Mike Pence.
Notably absent from the weekend event is former President Donald Trump, who is leading the other GOP contenders by a wide margin in polls in New Hampshire and across the country. The frontrunner has so far refused to participate in any of the debates. Trump was just in the Granite State on Monday for a campaign event in Wolfeboro and is scheduled to return to the state for a campaign event in Derry on Oct. 23.
Check NBC10 Boston's 2024 New Hampshire Primary candidate tracker for speaking times and follow @MattPrichardTV and @MarcNBCBoston on X for live updates.
Christie was first up on Friday, and opened his speech by talking about the situation in Israel. "If you're Jewish in this country or around the world you're living with the reality that this is the most Jewish people killed since the holocaust," he said, adding that "this is not theoretical to the Jewish people."
WATCH: @GovChristie takes the stage at #FITNSummit, opening with remarks about the Israel-Hamas war and other recent world events. pic.twitter.com/kXUbny69vQ
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
He also took some jabs at Trump, which drew some catcalls and boos from the crowd.
It's not much, but there is jeers and boos from corners of the room. @GovChristie brought up false claims that the election was stolen, member of the crowd shouts "of course it was."
— Matt Prichard (@MattPrichardTV) October 13, 2023
Chris Christie criticizes Donald Trump and his claims that the 2020 election was stolen at the #FITNSummit, drawing some catcalls and boos from the audience. pic.twitter.com/76HQIZEspA
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023See AlsoDonald Trump to speak in New Hampshire at annual meeting of state RepublicansNH GOP primary: What are the voters saying?NH Primary Source: Sen. Tim Scott to push for GOP unity, slam Democratic budget plan, in NH visit
Perry Johnson was the next presidential candidate to speak on Friday, followed by Doug Burgum.
Both were critical of President Joe Biden and spoke about world events.
Perry Johnson has now taken the stage at #FITNSummit. Also starts with comments about Israel. pic.twitter.com/RTWRSbNlDe
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
Burgum made friends in the crowd by commenting on the importance of the New Hampshire primary.
Doug Burgum takes the stage, starts by discussing the importance of the #NHPrimary. “NH and people like you pick the president.” pic.twitter.com/MzkOcSdLvl
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
Speaking Friday night were DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy.
DeSantis received a warm welcome from the crowd, and touched on Israel and also the migrant crisis, proudly boasting about how he had 50 migrants flown "to beautiful Martha's Vineyard." Before he did that, he said no one was even talking about the issue.
DeSantis talks about how he had 50 migrants flown “to beautiful Martha’s Vineyard.” Said no one was talking about the issue before he did that. pic.twitter.com/sAWYHZIsZP
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
Haley was introduced by former Senate candidate Don Bolduc, who she supported during his run for the office.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it... things are bad," she said to open up her speech.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it… things are bad,” Nikki Haley says to kick off her speech at the #FITNSummit. pic.twitter.com/qXxZN1TfVo
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
Ramaswamy closed things out on Friday, and he actually held a media availability outside the main hall before Haley had even finished speaking.
As @stephanie_murr first noted, here’s Vivek Ramaswamy holding a media avail outside the main hall as Nikki Haley is still speaking. You can hear him get partially drowned out by Tom Petty’s “American Girl” as Haley wraps up her speech. pic.twitter.com/8du1TKtibP
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
Others who spoke at the conference included Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Sen. Joni Ernst, former Sen. and current New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and actor Kevin Sorbo.
Actor Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbo) is here at the @NHGOP’s #FITNSummit. pic.twitter.com/JjbnnH1weC
— Marc Fortier (@MarcNBCBoston) October 13, 2023
The filing period for the New Hampshire presidential primary opened Wednesday and runs through Oct. 27. Hutchinson was among the candidates who filed on Wednesday, followed by Burgum and DeSantis on Thursday.
For the second day in a row Thursday, candidates headed to New Hampshire to add their names to the 2024 Republican presidential ballot.
Haley and Pence filed on Friday, and Ramaswamy is expected to file next week.
.@Mike_Pence arrives to file for the New Hampshire primary ballot, a walk he’s taken a few times in his political career pic.twitter.com/3LMaBVMO6M
— Matt Prichard (@MattPrichardTV) October 13, 2023
.@NikkiHaley arrives to file for the New Hampshire primary ballot. @NBC10Boston @IssueNBCBoston pic.twitter.com/njk8eZ157k
— Matt Prichard (@MattPrichardTV) October 13, 2023
The date of the 2024 primary has not yet been set, as Secretary of State David Scanlan is waiting for the dust to settle in other states before scheduling the contest.
New Hampshire, with its state law requiring its primaries to be held first, is defying the Democratic National Committee’s new primary calendar which calls for South Carolina to kick off voting on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada. The shakeup came at the request of President Joe Biden in a bid to empower Black and other minority voters crucial to the party’s base.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
