WINDHAM, NH | It doesn’t take long to get a sense of how a Corey Lewandowski Senate bid would go over here in his New Hampshire hometown.
It seems that for everyone who is jazzed up about sending President Trump a loyal New Hampshire foot soldier, there is another person who is downright horrified by the prospect of Mr. Lewandowski running for the what’s been called the world’s most exclusive club.
“He can rub people the wrong way sometimes, there is no question about it, but he doesn’t rub me the wrong way,” Dick Gregory said in a Windham, N.H., grocery store parking lot. “He is a little arrogant sometimes, but sometimes you need that.”
Moments earlier a middle-aged man fumed at the mere mention of a possible Lewandowki run, snapping, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” and “You’ve got to be joking!”
“The guy can’t even get along with his neighbor, what the [expletive deleted] do you think he is going to do in Congress?” he barked out of his car window before tearing out of the parking lot.
Mr. Lewandowski has developed into one of the most polarizing figures in American politics since emerging from relative obscurity as Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign manager.
It’s no different here in his political backyard, where last year he settled most of a legal dispute with a neighbor over access to a pond-front property.
The Associated Press reported at the time that Mr. Lewandowski’s neighbors accused him of trying to intimidate them by coming out of his house with a baseball bat and warning them over the phone he would use his political connections and clout to “shut down all building and work and make your life a nightmare with an expensive and extended lawsuit.”
Mr. Lewandowski’s hard-charging style made him a lightening rod for controversy in the 2016 election and played a part in his dismissal from the Trump campaign.
But he has remained fiercely loyal to Mr. Trump.
He co-authored a “Let Trump Be Trump” book, and left Democrats miffed after he dodged their questions this month in the first high-profile impeachment hearing on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Lewandowski irked them even more by launching a campaign style website during the hearing that features a snapshot of Mr. Trump smiling and a quote from the president saying he would be a “fantastic” senator.
Steve Deluca, a Vietnam veteran, marveled at Mr. Lewandowski’s performance, describing it as “stellar.”
“He stood them on their ear in the witch hunt,” Mr. Deluca said, adding that he is “absolutely” convinced the Republican can defeat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen next fall.
“He can win because he will take all the Trump supporters right away — boom!” he said. “Anyone who likes Trump is voting for Cory.”
“No. 2, he is a great debater, he is a great speaker, and when he gets her in a debate one-on-one, she is going to be hiding under that podium because one thing about Cory he comes prepared,” he said.
Political handicappers say Ms. Shaheen is favored to win reelection — though a Lewandowski run would dramatically change the contours of the race.
His ties to Mr. Trump would make him the wild card in the race, and could help him raise a ton of money from people like Mr. Deluca, who said he plans to donate upwards of $200.
Polls show would Mr. Lewandowski would enter the GOP primary race as the front-runner, but he trails Ms. Shaheen by double-digits in a hypothetical general election match-up.
Former New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien, retired Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc and Bryant Messner are already in the GOP primary race.
Democratic voters, meanwhile, said they don’t think Mr. Lewandowski belongs anywhere near public office.
“He is your typical mercenary,” said John Amato, 66. “He’s sticking his finger up in the air and seeing which way the wind blows … I am not fond of him at all.”
Others called him a white supremacist and a bully.
Matt, an independent who didn’t want to give his last name, said he doesn’t like the idea of sending Trump reinforcements.
“If he gets elected and Trump gets elected that is another vote Trump is going to have in the Senate,” the 72-year-old said.
Mr. Gregory, though, said Mr. Lewandowki would help Mr. Trump shake things up in Washington.
“If he ran I’d vote for him because I am not happy with Washington — nothing gets done,” he said. “They just fight about Trump all day.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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