As Democrats seek to keep control of the U.S. Senate, they can't afford to lose the seat currently held by Maggie Hassan.

But Don Bolduc, Hassan's Republican opponent, is proving to be a tougher opponent than many expected. Bolduc, an erratic figure and die-hard supporter of former President Donald Trump, was considered so unelectable that Democrats actually ran ads to help him beat Chuck Morse, the favorite of the GOP establishment, in the Republican primary.

But now polls show Bolduc surging as the race heads toward the home stretch, and the Hassan campaign is warning that the contest might be closer than anyone realizes.

In this segment of GBH News's Talking Politics, Adam Reilly discusses the New Hampshire Senate contest with Arnie Arnesen, a talk show host and former Democratic legislator, and Fergus Cullen, a former head of the New Hampshire GOP.

Arnesen and Cullen agree that Hassan, a longtime presence on the New Hampshire political scene, is the political equivalent of wallpaper — though they part ways on whether that's likely to help or hurt her candidacy.

They also disagree on the importance of some of Bolduc's more eyebrow-raising comments on issues like the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, with Cullen describing those comments as distractions, and Arnesen saying they are — and should be — important to voters.

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