Just south of Manchester, nestled among a smattering of golf courses and town forests, lies the New Hampshire town of Milford. With its population of about 15,000, the sprawling community is the kind of place where Democrats and Republicans will have to compete, in this election and likely for elections to come.
The town went for Trump, just slightly, over Hillary Clinton in 2016. But Milford, which is close enough to Massachusetts to be home to long-distance commuters working in higher-paying professional fields, has a strong Democratic core that makes it an important town for the 2020 presidential election. Barack Obama edged out Mitt Romney in Milford in the 2012 election.
So far, the Democratic candidates haven’t impressed Ed Wilke, a long-time Milford resident. Wilke watched Friday’s debate and came away thinking it’s “just not a great field,” he said.
Wilke, who will vote in the primary, said he’s leaning toward Amy Klobuchar.
A relatively engaged voter, he said he sees less excitement from voters and less engagement by politicians this time around.
“Four years ago, when Republicans came, there seemed to be a lot more interest all around. More candidates came to town – far more candidates,” he said.
The 2020 Democratic primary, he said, has been far quieter.
“My kids don’t talk about it, I don’t really hear anybody.”
Roland Robertson, of neighboring Amherst, didn’t watch the Democratic debate, but had a different critique of the Democratic field.
“I don’t think they’re hitting [President] Trump hard enough,” Robertson said. “I think they’re playing nice about it, and he’s not going to play nice. He’s going to do what he always does, which is dirty politics. I think they’ve got to get a lot tougher.”
Robertson’s preferred candidate wasn’t in the debate.
“Bloomberg!” he said. “Because he’s got the experience, he’s got the money and he’s got the intelligence.”
Some local Republican voters were unswayed by any of the Democratic candidates.
Brian Graziano, of Milford, works in logging and says he is backing Trump.
"I think the way the country is going now is fine – the country’s doing good, the economy is doing well, my business is doing well,” Graziano said.
Graziano is originally from Massachusetts and as are many around Milford — and that he believes it’s largely Massachusetts transplants that make up the town’s Democratic voter base.
“They all come up this way and that’s where the Democratic push is coming from,” he said.
Businessman Tom Steyer is the only Democrat that Graziano thinks might have a chance in the general election.
Closer to downtown Milford – younger, hipper, a little more urban – several residents said they were for Bernie Sanders.
Taking lunch at the Café on the Oval, Sherri Sinclair said she, too, was for Bernie.
Over the course of the primary, she said, “I had couple of people in mind; I actually was leaning towards Elizabeth Warren, but I think it comes down to the basic things I think are necessary to change, and I like Bernie, I like what he has to say and we need those changes.”
She is not alone.
As Saturday afternoon turned to Saturday evening, the Union Coffee Shop saw a small group of patrons wearing Bernie Sanders buttons.
They were gathering to go canvass for the evening.
