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Ask Republican Bryant “Corky” Messner why he’s running for the Senate in New Hampshire and he spotlights individual liberties and economic freedoms.
“I’m running for the U.S. Senate because I want to fight for and protect for everybody in New Hampshire and for generations beyond individual liberty and economic freedom. And those things in my opinion make up the opportunity to live the American dream,” Messner said in an interview with Fox News.
And taking aim at Democrats, Messner argued that “the progressives, the Democrats, the liberals, want to pull more and more power to the government. When the government grabs more power, we lose liberty. We lose freedom.”

FILE - This photo combo shows Republican Bryant "Corky" Messner, left, and incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, right, New Hampshire candidates for the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 3 general election. (AP Photos, File)
Messner is challenging Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in the Senate election in New Hampshire. Shaheen, who served six years as governor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is running for a third six-year term representing the Granite State in the Senate.
Here are four things to know about Messner:
He’s a West Point graduate
Messner was raised in Altoona, Pa. He attended West Point, and after graduating in 1979, Messner was deployed in Germany during the Cold War. In this year’s Republican Senate primary in New Hampshire, he defeated another veteran, retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc.
He started a successful law firm
Following his military service, Messner attended law school at the University of Denver and went on to found a law firm in Colorado that grew to more than 200 employees across nine states. After calling Colorado home for years, Messner in 2018 became a resident of Wolfeboro, N.H. – where he’s owned a home for a dozen years.
Pointing to his roots, Messner noted, “I grew up in a blue-collar family. We didn’t have much. Because America allows for opportunity, I’ve been able to become very successful. I went to West Point, I have two kids that are West Pointers. I had a successful military career. I’m a veteran. I’m a successful businessman and I think it’s very important that everybody has those kinds of opportunities.”
He's a conservationist
Messner likes to showcase that he’s “a conservative conservationist." “In the last 10 years here in New Hampshire I’ve helped conserve over 250 acers. I care about nature, I care about the environment, I care about water,” he told Fox News.
How he got his nickname
“Corky’s a nickname my parents game me,” Messner explained.
But he added “I don’t know why.”