CONCORD, N.H. —The morning before the first ballot was counted in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, Juliana Bergeron was already disappointed by the result.
“I don’t think you can make any of those people that are planning on voting for him not vote for him,” Bergeron said of the man who would cruise to victory, former President Donald Trump. ”It’s just also, I don’t think you can make any of us who aren’t going to vote for him vote for him either.”
After 12 years as a Republican National Committee member, Bergeron said last year she would not seek another term in the job. Her state has an outsized role in choosing the Republican presidential nominee, so like any voter here, she spent months watching Trump’s opponents fall flat as they tried to take him down. Bergeron did not want the attacks to fall flat. She doesn’t like the way Trump talks about women or immigrants, or his legal drama, attitude and age.