New Hampshire is supposed to be a friendly state. The LPNH didn’t do much to uphold the image when it called for murdering Democratic office holders. Now we have a legislator challenging an opposing political leader to a street fight.

Ned Raynolds, a Democratic state legislator from Portsmouth, challenged Jason Osborne, the Republican majority leader in the state’s House of Representatives, to an unarmed duel in downtown Portsmouth. He wrote, “No weapons, no posse — just you & me. We’ll stop traffic, and I’ll put you on the ground and rub gravel in your face.” That’s literally the language of a schoolyard bully. There seems to have been worse, but the Globe didn’t dare publish it, instead referring obliquely to “crude and misogynistic language” and “a vulgar phrase.” Strange, since Osborne is a man.

Democratic leader Alexis Simpson has responded, “I said it when extremists called for the assassination of Democrats last week, and I say it to members of my own caucus who propose fistfights. Violent rhetoric has no place in our politics.”

Raynolds isn’t running for reelection but has refused calls to resign.