New Hampshire Primary 2016: Scenes from Manchester

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican candidate for president, campaigns outside Manchester's Webster School on the day of the New Hampshire Primary.

(Greg Saulmon / The Republican)

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Jim Gilmore is a former Virginia governor, Virginia attorney general and chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Yet during his 2016 presidential campaign, Gilmore has been excluded from most Republican debates. He got only 12 votes in the Iowa caucuses, earning no delegates.

However, that did not stop Gilmore from spending New Hampshire primary day shaking hands with voters, in the state where he is pinning all his hopes for his long-shot candidacy.

"My goal here is to tell the people of New Hampshire and tell others they don't have to be told who to vote for by the (Republican National Committee) or by the networks or by the establishment media," Gilmore said in an interview outside a Manchester polling place. "They can decide for themselves."

Gilmore argues that he is the only candidate with the credentials to handle international threats, noting that he was governor during the September 2001 terrorist attacks and chaired a national commission related to homeland security. The commission was a congressional advisory panel that between 1999 and 2003 assessed domestic terrorism capabilities involving weapons of mass destruction.

Gilmore is a military veteran who served in intelligence. He is a board member of the National Rifle Association.

"I think I'm going to appeal to people who are thoughtful about the national security issues, because the other candidates just aren't qualified, just don't have any background in it at all," Gilmore said. "We're getting ready to put somebody as commander-in-chief who never served in the military and has no background in foreign policy."

Gilmore said he has been frustrated with his exclusion from the RNC-sanctioned GOP debates.

"The way that the RNC has tried to dictate who people can hear and who people can't hear has been terrible," Gilmore said.

He did not campaign in Iowa, focusing instead on New Hampshire and South Carolina. Asked if he will drop out of the race if he does not perform well in New Hampshire, Gilmore said he expects to continue his campaign.

"I still have a plane ticket for South Carolina in the morning," Gilmore said.