Free Stater Matthew Ping Defeated in Democratic Primary
Libertarian Realtor Comes in Dead Last in Hillsborough District 40 Race
MANCHESTER, NH — Matthew Ping, who moves to New Hampshire as a member of the Free State Project, came in fifth in the Democratic Primary for State Representative in Hillsborough District 40. He lost to incumbent State Rep. Matt Wilhelm, a prominent member of the State and City Democratic Parties, and former Ward 10 State Rep. Mark McKenzie, the former president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO.
Electoral newcomers Diamond Ford and Trinidad Tellez also won.
New Hampshire has an extremely odd system of representation in the lower house of its legislature, in which each voter will have six state reps: two from their home ward, and four from a “floterial” district that consists of multiple wards or towns.
Mathew Ping’s candidacy was controversial as there is no knowledge among Democrats that he had ever been a Democrat or participated in any way with the state or municipal Democratic Parties until running for the Democratic nomination.
Matthew Ping never answered the question I posted to him on Twitter: When did you become a Democrat?
Not many Democrats I know would retweet the assertion that the United States government is a terrorist organization.
A Google search for what Matthew Ping believes in only reveals some retweets of tweets embracing issues and attitudes that are antithetical to members of the Democratic Party.
Ping’s retweets included sharing a video by a Libertarian candidate where a doctored clip of Joe Biden shows the President with a reptile’s tongue snaking in and out of his mouth.
That’s a Democrat running for a place on the Democratic ticket?
A realtor from Manchester Ward 11 who is part of what I call the “anarcho-libertarian” Free State Project, Mathew Ping, “Democrat,” is the husband of fellow Free Stater (and fellow realtor) Brittany Ping. (NOTE: She’s listed as Brittany Ping on the ballot, but as Brittany LeClear-Ping on ManchesterInkLink’s Voters Guide.)
Unlike hubby Matthew, Brittany was running for State Rep as a Republican. Which is fitting, as she’s the vice-chair of the Manchester G.O.P.
Unopposed in the primary, she and New Hampshire secessionist Carla Gericke won the Republican nominations for their seat.
In her public appearances at City Hall, Brittany Ping comes across as an acolyte of Carla Gericke.
Since Brittany lists herself as just plain Brittany Ping on her company website, a reasonable person could ask whether she called herself Ping-LeClear on the ballot as a type of subterfuge to slightly obscure her connection with the so-called Democrat Matthew Ping.
Ward 11 also is the heart of Manchester’s “Little Canada,” with a large French-Canadian population. Using a French name could be seen as pandering to the group, which was monmentally insulted by Republican mayoral candidate Victoria Wojdylak Sullivan and former Ward 10 State Rep. Tammy Simmons on the latter’s ManchVegas show.
A former head of both the Free State Project and the New Hampshire Independence movement, Carla Gericke is the perpetual Republican candidate who was born in South Africa, won a U.S. immigration visa, then turned on the country that so generously took her in once she became a citizen.
Did anyone believe that Matthew Ping is really a Democrat?
There has always been talk of Free Staters running as “Stealth Candidates” — running as a Republican in a GOP-leaning district, and as Democrat in a district leaning towards the Democratic Party — but when it comes to STEALTH, this is ridiculous.
Last Tuesday, voters taking a Democratic ballot soundly rejected this farce.
