Bolduc was described as
far-right during his 2022 Senate run as a Republican candidate. Bolduc has called for the repeal of the
Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ending
direct popular election of U.S. senators. He opposed the provision in the Democrats'
Inflation Reduction Act allowing Medicare to
negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, saying, "Anything the government's involved in, it's not good, it doesn't work." He endorsed
Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged to favor
Joe Biden. In May 2021, Bolduc was one of 124 retired generals and admirals who signed an open letter promoting the lie that the presidential election was "rigged" in Biden's favor. Throughout his campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, Bolduc continued to promote the false claim that the election was stolen and that Trump actually won; in an August 2022 primary debate, he said of his signing the May 2021 letter: "damn it, I stand by [it]". In September 2021, Bolduc criticized General
Mark Milley,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for reportedly telephoning his Chinese counterpart after the
January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol to assure him of the
strategic stability of the United States. Bolduc said of Milley: "I believe his actions are irresponsible and they fall somewhere between treason and dereliction of duty." Two days after Bolduc won the Republican primary in September 2022, he reversed his stance on the 2020 election: "I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this, the election was not stolen." After he lost the Senate election to Hassan in November, Bolduc told
The New Yorker, "Joe Biden won. He is the legitimate President of the United States. President Trump should have accepted that." But Bolduc continued to promote his false claims that the election was marred by fraud. After winning the Republican primary election, Bolduc distanced himself from a 15-week federal abortion ban proposed by Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham; Bolduc said abortion should be a "state-level" issue. Bolduc also considers the disposal of embryos for
in vitro fertilization "a pretty disgusting practice".
COVID-19 pandemic Bolduc has repeated
misinformation about COVID-19. He has falsely claimed that
COVID-19 vaccines are really "
Bill Gates saying we should put [micro]chips inside people" and asserted that the use of face masks to control the spread of the virus "cause[s] more problems than they solve".
Donald Trump During both of his Senate campaigns, Bolduc was considered an ally and supporter of Donald Trump. After Trump's defeat in the 2020 United States presidential election, Bolduc supported Trump's
claims of election fraud. However, after winning the primary for the Republican nomination in the 2022 Senate election in New Hampshire, Bolduc disavowed his previous statements about the election. Regardless, Trump endorsed Bolduc for the general election, writing on
Truth Social that "His opponent is a disaster on Crime, the Border, Inflation, & all else. Vote for Don Bolduc!", although he also criticized Bolduc for changing his stance on election denial. By the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries, Bolduc disavowed Trump, and campaigned for his opponent, former U.N. Ambassador
Nikki Haley. Bolduc criticized Trump in a press conference for his draft deferments in the
Vietnam War (which Trump had received due to
bone spurs, which Bolduc claimed he had while going through
Ranger School) and other military issues. He also appeared in an advertisement for the Haley campaign.
Foreign policy In a February 2021
op-ed in
USA Today, Bolduc criticized the Afghanistan Study Group's recommendation to reverse the scheduled
withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. Bolduc urged the Biden administration to stick with the withdrawal deadline as set by the Trump administration.
Litter boxes in schools Speaking to an audience in
North Hampton, New Hampshire, on October 27, 2022, Bolduc repeated the
debunked hoax that children are being told they can identify as cats and use
litter boxes in schools.
Pinkerton Academy and the
Dover School District released statements refuting Bolduc's claim, calling his allegations "entirely untrue".
Marijuana legalization Bolduc is opposed to the
legalization of marijuana, and considers it to be a
gateway drug and a
risk to public safety. In a July 2020 interview with
WMUR-TV, Bolduc stated that "My big problem with marijuana is that it could be an entry drug and a gateway for our children. And I don't not want our children to be introduced to drugs. We have a big enough drug problem here, which nobody has really done anything about," and "when you get in a motor vehicle and you
drive [under the influence of marijuana], your sobriety is impaired, and that is very, very dangerous. And until we get controls or some sort of system and technology in place for our police to be able to test sobriety of people that that are operating under the influence of marijuana, this is a public safety issue." ==Personal life==