Politics & Government

Rick Perry Won't be in NH on Primary Night

The other six major GOP candidates will be in the state.

He's here for Saturday night's GOP debate, and he'll participate in Sunday's debate, too, but Rick Perry will not be in New Hampshire on primary night, his New Hampshire spokesperson has confirmed.

Kerry Marsh, New Hampshire State Director for Perry's campaign, asked by email about Perry's whereabouts on Tuesday night, said that "Governor Perry will not be here on election night."

Perry is the only one of the six candidates participating in this weekend's GOP debates who will not be in New Hampshire on primary night. Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are all attending primary night parties in Manchester.

Find out what's happening in Bedfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Marsh had said Tuesday that she wasn't sure if Perry would be in New Hampshire or not. That was before the Texas governor's disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses.

Perry's New Hampshire campaign staff will be watching the results from their campaign office at 1750 Elm St., Suite 101 in Manchester, on Tuesday.

Find out what's happening in Bedfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Perry has a number of high profile New Hampshire supporters, including former congressional candidate Sean Mahoney of Portsmouth and Deputy House Speaker Pam Tucker of Greenland. But other than a brief period in August, he has been unable to gain much traction in the Granite State.

After finishing fifth in Iowa on Tuesday, it appeared Perry might be on the verge of dropping out. He said Tuesday night that he was going back to Texas to reassess his campaign, but by Wednesday morning he said he was on to South Carolina. Tonight's debate appearance will be his first visit to New Hampshire since the Iowa Caucus.


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