(This report is a special preview of this week’s New Hampshire Primary Source, which will return in its entirety to WMUR.com on Thursday, Jan. 9, after two-week holiday break.)>> Download the FREE WMUR appDUPREY BRINGS ON RIGHT VOTER. Faced with a tough challenge in his bid for a fifth term as New Hampshire’s Republican National Committeeman, Steve Duprey of Concord has brought on the prominent GOP consulting firm RightVoter LLC to organize and run his campaign.The 505-member New Hampshire Republican State Committee will elect its representatives to the RNC at its annual meeting Jan. 25 at Interlakes High School in Meredith, beginning at 9 a.m.The four-year terms of the Republican National Committeeman and Republican National Committeewoman will begin at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August.Duprey, who has long been adept at rounding up and solidifying support at the RNC for the New Hampshire presidential primary’s first-in-the-nation status, announced his reelection bid in a Nov. 7 interview with New Hampshire Primary Source.Hillsborough County Republican Chair Chris Ager of Amherst announced his challenge to Duprey in an interview with this column on Nov. 21.Ager appears to be building support from some party conservatives, including some core supporters of President Donald Trump.The deadline for candidates to file for the two RNC posts was Friday, Jan. 3. Republican National Committeewoman Juliana Bergeron of Keene is unopposed in her bid for a third term.Duprey could not be reached for comment for this report, but it appears his decision to hire the New Hampshire-based consulting firm, which has represented many conservative candidates and causes, shows that Duprey is taking the challenge from Ager very seriously.RightVoter LLC partners Michael Biundo, a former Trump campaign and transition official, Derek Dufresne, Andrew Boucher and Kory Wood are partners in the firm.Biundo has served as national senior adviser not only to the Trump campaign, but also to the presidential campaign of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in 2015. In 2012, he was the national campaign manager of former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign before joining the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s general election campaign as national deputy coalitions director.Biundo’s political involvement dates back to Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaign in 1996 and former U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta’s congressional campaign in 2010.Dufresne heads communications and grassroots consulting for RightVoter, most recently working on the Manchester mayoral campaign of former state Rep. Victoria Sullivan. He is a former communications director for Guinta.In 2018, Biundo and Dufresne were the lead consultants for Republican Eddie Edwards’ campaign for the 1st District U.S. House seat.Boucher was the national political director for Santorum in 2012, worked on several New Hampshire Republican campaigns over many years and was executive director of the NHGOP when Duprey served as chair.Wood was involved in a voter contact phone program for the 2016 Trump campaign and was a member of Guinta’s congressional staff. He specializes in telephone and data programming.Duprey ,meanwhile, served as the state’s RNC member for two four-year terms in the 1990s and is currently in his second four-year term in the 2000s. He also was NHGOP chair for four two-year terms in the 1990s and early 2000s.He chaired the 2016 election cycle RNC debate commission and was on the site selection committee for the 2016 national convention in Cleveland. Despite Duprey's work at the RNC on behalf of the New Hampshire primary, concerns have been voiced by some conservatives in recent months that Duprey is not in line with some of the conservative principles of the NHGOP platform.Duprey is pro-choice – as is, Duprey's supporters point out, Gov. Chris Sununu. But concerns have been voiced about Duprey’s attendance in 2015 at a Planned Parenthood fundraising event in Concord. Duprey has said he did not know it was a fundraiser and said he regretted attending.Duprey supporters point out that Sununu, as an executive councilor in 2016, voted to support state funding for Planned Parenthood. The NHGOP platform is pro-life.Duprey is a former member of the board of the nonprofit Reaching Higher NH, a pro-public education nonprofit that has leaned in opposition to education savings accounts.He told New Hampshire Primary Source in November that he joined the board thinking the goal was to have “greater community involvement in education.” But he said that when he realized the group had “a different focus” and a progressive agenda, he resigned.Conservatives have recently frowned on Duprey for involving his firm, the Duprey Companies an effort by businesses statewide to back net metering. Ager did not criticize Duprey when he announced his candidacy in the November interview, saying at the time: “I want to represent the NHGOP to the Republican National Committee and I want to reflect the values of the NHGOP to the RNC and support what’s in the platform. “I’m pro-Second amendment and I’m pro-life and I’m pro-school choice.”Ager told us Wednesday he has been encouraged by the support he is receiving as he talks to voting committee members. “I don’t see a need to hire a consultant,” Ager said. “I’m a grassroots guy.” Duprey said in November: “The job of the Republican National Committeeman is to represent New Hampshire’s interests at the RNC, to ensure that our presidential primary stays first in the nation under RNC rules, to ensure that all presidential candidates feel welcome here and that we receive at least our fair share of financial and logistical support for all of our candidates up and down the ballot.“I think my record shows I’ve done a good job at that and shows my ability to deliver for the New Hampshire Republican Party. In every election cycle, we have received more than our fair share of resources, and my seniority in service on the national committee in a variety of roles has been beneficial.”Duprey was a longtime friend and senior adviser of the late Sen. John McCain and criticized Trump’s attacks on McCain during the 2016 campaign and in more recent years.Duprey makes no apologies for defending his late friend, but pointed out that he has supported Trump. He said that at 2016 Republican National Convention, he led opposition to an effort by “never-Trumpers” and supporters of other former presidential candidates to change party rules to release delegates from voting as their states had voted in their primaries or caucuses.“I led the floor fight against that effort on behalf of then-presumptive nominee Donald Trump. We defeated 132 separate amendments,” Duprey said. Ager said keeping the primary first is “a constant effort and a team effort, and I’m committed to expanding the network of support to ensure that we can do that. I hope to solicit all the prior RNC chairs to help in the process.”Meanwhile, RightVoter partner Biundo said: “Steve Duprey's tenured history of advocating for us at the Republican National Committee and fighting for the New Hampshire primary is unparalleled.“He has worked tirelessly to ensure we remain first in the nation and I believe that his leadership is crucial to ensuring that we keep our leadoff position. I have also witnessed his true passion as he fought against forces looking to hurt President Donald Trump at the convention."Biundo said Duprey is widely respected among his fellow RNC members.RightVoters set up a campaign Twitter account and Facebook page for Duprey.