A reporter for New Hampshire Journal says he was blocked from entering a Saturday campaign event featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris, reigniting a dispute over press access to the state’s Democratic political events.
Reporter Leonard Robinson told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday that while he’s had mostly positive interactions with Democratic activists and staff at past events, Saturday’s incident stood out. “The reception that I’ve gotten at past Democrat events from activists, from staff has mostly been positive… which is what makes this situation so disappointing,” he said.
Harris was campaigning in New Hampshire on behalf of Chris Pappas, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Robinson said he had RSVP’d for the event, which was hosted by the group Reproductive Freedom for All, after filling out a form the Pappas campaign had sent him. He had turned to that event after being shut out of a separate Harris appearance hosted directly by the campaign due to space limits, according to an email obtained by Fox News Digital.
When Robinson arrived to check in, he said a representative from Reproductive Freedom for All told him he wasn’t on the registration list and that the event had reached capacity. He said he later watched another journalist who also wasn’t on the list get waved inside. Robinson also said he saw a Pappas campaign staffer gesture “no” to the group’s representative from a distance.
In a post on X Saturday, Robinson wrote: “@NHDems often make access hard for NHJournal. I’ve been physically blocked by their operatives, they’ve hidden locations of their events from NHJournal. Nothing compares to Harris’s visit.”
A pattern, outlet says
Robinson told Fox News Digital he’s covered other Pappas campaign events featuring high-profile Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Rep. Ro Khanna and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, without the same trouble.
“Why are [New Hampshire Democrats] afraid for her to talk to me? I think that’s the real question that’s gotta be answered here,” Robinson said.
New Hampshire Journal describes itself as the state’s only right-of-center news outlet. Robinson said he’s generally had cordial dealings with Pappas staff in person but criticized state Democrats more broadly for not sharing event schedules or welcoming the outlet’s coverage.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley pushed back hard on Robinson’s account, calling New Hampshire Journal “a partisan right wing site created to smear Democrats” and saying it “has rarely, if ever, received credentials to any Democratic or progressive event.”
NH Journal managing editor Michael Graham defended Robinson, telling Fox News Digital: “This is a rare occasion for them to literally force Leonard out of, or one of us out of the event. And given Vice President Kamala Harris and her potential hopes to make history, it was really unfortunate that they would keep [out] a reporter from an award-winning member of the New Hampshire Press Association.”
It remains unclear whether the incident stemmed from a miscommunication among event organizers. Representatives for Harris and the New Hampshire Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital, and a spokesperson for the Pappas campaign declined to comment.
Harris has been campaigning for Democratic candidates ahead of the midterm elections as she also considers a potential run for president in 2028.
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