Commerce Secretary-nominee Judd Gregg’s departure from the Senate would leave New Hampshire with the nation’s least senior congressional delegation, but political experts disagree on whether that will hurt the state.
If Gregg is confirmed, New Hampshire would be represented by two House members who’ve been in office for two years each, one senator who was elected in November and another appointed to replace Gregg. Or as Dartmouth College professor Linda Fowler puts it — low seniority in the House and zero seniority in the Senate.
Fowler says Gregg was very good at bringing home federal money for education, research and conservation and that it will take a long time to recoup that. But others say New Hampshire more than makes up for that loss by having three quarters of its delegation in the party that controls both Congress and the White House.