Elections in New Hampshire

Elections in the U.S. state of New Hampshire are held at national, state and local (county and municipal) level. The state holds the first presidential primary in the national cycle. Elections for a range of state positions coincide with biennial elections for the House of Representatives.

In a 2020 study, New Hampshire was ranked as the 6th hardest state for citizens to vote in.[1]

Elections for state offices

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Gubernatorial election results[2]
Year Democratic Republican
1950 43.0% 82,258 57.0% 108,907
1952 36.9% 97,924 63.2% 167,791
1954 44.9% 87,344 55.1% 107,287
1956 45.3% 117,117 54.7% 141,578
1958 48.4% 99,955 51.7% 106,790
1960 44.5% 129,404 55.5% 161,123
1962 58.9% 135,481 41.1% 94,567
1964 66.8% 190,863 33.2% 94,824
1966 53.9% 125,882 45.9% 107,259
1968 47.4% 135,378 52.5% 149,902
1970 44.1% 98,098 46.0% 102,298
1972 39.0% 126,107 41.4% 133,702
1974 48.8% 110,591 51.2% 115,933
1976 42.3% 145,015 57.7% 197,589
1978 49.4% 133,133 45.4% 122,464
1980 59.0% 226,436 40.7% 156,178
1982 46.8% 132,317 51.5% 145,389
1984 33.1% 127,156 66.9% 256,574
1986 46.3% 116,142 53.7% 134,824
1988 39.1% 172,543 60.5% 267,064
1990 34.7% 101,923 60.5% 177,773
1992 40.0% 206,232 56.0% 289,170
1994 25.6% 79,686 70.0% 218,134
1996 57.2% 284,175 39.5% 196,321
1998 66.1% 210,769 30.9% 98,473
2000 48.7% 275,038 43.8% 246,952
2002 38.2% 169,277 58.6% 259,663
2004 51.0% 340,299 48.9% 325,981
2006 74.0% 298,761 25.8% 104,288
2008 70.2% 479,042 27.6% 188,555
2010 52.6% 240,346 45.0% 205,616
2012 54.6% 378,934 42.5% 295,026
2014 52.4% 254,666 47.4% 230,610
2016 46.6% 337,589 48.8% 354,040
2018 45.7% 262,359 52.8% 302,764
2020 33.4% 264,639 65.1% 516,609
2022 41.5% 256,774 57.0% 352,982

The state of New Hampshire holds its state general elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (better known as Election Day) in even-numbered years. As a result of this, general elections in New Hampshire systematically coincide with the biennial elections for the United States House of Representatives.

During general elections in New Hampshire, elections are held for the positions of Governor, Executive Councilor, state Senator, state Representative, Sheriff, County Attorney, County Treasurer, Register of Deeds, and Register of Probate. Officials elected to all nine of these offices are elected for a term of two years.

Election of County Commissioners also occurs during the state's general elections, but rules for these elections vary by county.[3] In Strafford County, for example, three County Commissioners are elected to two-year terms at every general election. In Carroll County, by contrast, three County Commissioners are elected to rotating four-year terms.

New Hampshire's Governor is elected at large; Executive Councilors, state Senators, and state Representatives are elected by district; Sheriff, County Attorney, County Treasurer, Register of Deeds, and Register of Probate are elected by county; and County Commissioners are elected, again, by rules that vary from county to county.[3]

New Hampshire currently has 400 seats in its House of Representatives, 24 seats in its Senate, and five seats on its Executive Council.

National elections

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New Hampshire is well known in national politics for holding the first primary in the quadrennial U.S. presidential election cycle. This New Hampshire primary is actually mandated by state law. New Hampshire RSA 653:9[4] requires that the state's presidential primary elections be scheduled on the earlier of:

  1. the second Tuesday in March, or
  2. no less than seven days prior to the holding of a "similar election" in any other state

History

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United States presidential election results for New Hampshire[5]
Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 365,660 45.36% 424,937 52.71% 15,608 1.94%
2016 345,790 46.46% 348,526 46.83% 49,980 6.72%
2012 329,918 46.40% 369,561 51.98% 11,493 1.62%
2008 316,534 44.52% 384,826 54.13% 9,610 1.35%
2004 331,237 48.87% 340,511 50.24% 5,990 0.88%
2000 273,559 48.07% 266,348 46.80% 29,174 5.13%
1996 196,532 39.37% 246,214 49.32% 56,429 11.30%
1992 202,484 37.64% 209,040 38.86% 126,421 23.50%
1988 281,537 62.49% 163,696 36.33% 5,292 1.17%
1984 267,051 68.66% 120,395 30.95% 1,508 0.39%
1980 221,705 57.74% 108,864 28.35% 53,430 13.91%
1976 185,935 54.75% 147,635 43.47% 6,048 1.78%
1972 213,724 63.98% 116,435 34.85% 3,900 1.17%
1968 154,903 52.10% 130,589 43.93% 11,807 3.97%
1964 104,029 36.11% 184,064 63.89% 0 0.00%
1960 157,989 53.42% 137,772 46.58% 0 0.00%
1956 176,519 66.11% 90,364 33.84% 111 0.04%
1952 166,287 60.92% 106,663 39.08% 0 0.00%
1948 121,299 52.41% 107,995 46.66% 2,146 0.93%
1944 109,916 47.87% 119,663 52.11% 48 0.02%
1940 110,127 46.78% 125,292 53.22% 0 0.00%
1936 104,642 47.98% 108,460 49.73% 5,012 2.30%
1932 103,629 50.42% 100,680 48.99% 1,211 0.59%
1928 115,404 58.65% 80,715 41.02% 638 0.32%
1924 98,575 59.83% 57,201 34.72% 8,993 5.46%
1920 95,196 59.84% 62,662 39.39% 1,234 0.78%
1916 43,725 49.06% 43,781 49.12% 1,621 1.82%
1912 32,927 37.43% 34,724 39.48% 20,310 23.09%
1908 53,149 59.32% 33,655 37.56% 2,796 3.12%
1904 54,163 60.07% 34,074 37.79% 1,924 2.13%
1900 54,799 59.33% 35,489 38.42% 2,076 2.25%
1896 57,444 68.66% 21,650 25.88% 4,576 5.47%
1892 45,658 51.11% 42,081 47.11% 1,590 1.78%
1888 45,728 50.34% 43,456 47.84% 1,651 1.82%
1884 43,254 51.14% 39,198 46.34% 2,134 2.52%
1880 44,856 51.94% 40,797 47.24% 708 0.82%
1876 41,540 51.83% 38,510 48.05% 91 0.11%
1872 37,168 53.94% 31,425 45.61% 313 0.45%
1868 37,718 55.22% 30,575 44.76% 11 0.02%
1864 36,596 52.56% 33,034 47.44% 0 0.00%
1860 37,519 56.90% 25,887 39.26% 2,537 3.85%
1856 37,473 53.71% 31,891 45.71% 410 0.59%
1852 15,486 30.64% 28,503 56.40% 6,546 12.95%
1848 14,781 29.50% 27,763 55.41% 7,560 15.09%
1844 17,866 36.32% 27,160 55.22% 4,161 8.46%
1840 26,310 43.88% 32,774 54.66% 872 1.45%
1836 6,228 24.99% 18,697 75.01% 0 0.00%

New Hampshire voters selected Republicans for office during the 19th and 20th centuries until 1992. Since then, voters have chosen Democrats for U.S. President all but once, while voting Democratic for most state offices in 2006 and 2008 and Republican for most state offices in 2010. On selected issues, political debate in New Hampshire centers on personal liberty. Historically, New Hampshire was a staunchly conservative state and regularly voted Republican. Some sources trace the founding of the Republican Party to the town of Exeter in 1853. Prior to 1992, New Hampshire had only strayed from the Republican Party for three presidential candidates—Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. The state voted for Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan twice by overwhelming majorities.

Beginning in 1992, New Hampshire became a swing state in both national and local elections. The state supported Democrats Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. It was the only U.S. state to support George W. Bush in the 2000 election and go Democratic in the 2004 election. The state has elected three Democrats to the Governorship during this period.

The voters selected Democrats in New Hampshire as they did nationally in 2006 and 2008. In 2006, Democrats won both congressional seats (electing Carol Shea-Porter in the 1st district and Paul Hodes in the 2nd district), re-elected Governor John Lynch, and gained a majority on the Executive Council and in both houses of the legislature for the first time since 1911. Democrats had not held both the legislature and the governorship since 1874.[6] Neither U.S. Senate seat was up for a vote in 2006. In 2008, Democrats retained their majorities, governorship, and congressional seats; and former governor Jeanne Shaheen defeated incumbent Republican John E. Sununu for the U.S. Senate in a rematch of the 2002 contest. Barack Obama won the simultaneous presidential election and carried every New Hampshire county for the Democrats for the first time since 1852. It had been thought that Democrats moving in from Massachusetts were responsible for the shift. A 2006 University of New Hampshire survey found that those immigrants were mostly Republican. Their moving had helped the border towns to remain Republican, while other areas had become increasingly Democratic. The study indicated that immigrants from states other than Massachusetts tended to lean Democratic.[citation needed]

The 2008 elections resulted in women holding 13 of the 24 seats in the New Hampshire Senate, a first for any legislative body in the United States.[7] At the end of the 2008 election cycle, voters registered Democratic outnumbered those registered Republican.

In the 2010 midterm elections, New Hampshire voted out both of its Democratic members in the House of Representatives in favor of Republicans. Republicans also won control of both chambers of the State House by veto-proof majorities, while Governor John Lynch won an unprecedented fourth term. Two years later, in the 2012 elections, New Hampshire voted out both of its Republican members in the House of Representatives in favor of Democrats. At the same time, voters returned Democrats to the majority in the State House of Representatives, while Republicans held on to a narrow 13-11 majority in the State Senate, despite losing the popular vote. Democrat Maggie Hassan won the 2012 gubernatorial election with a 12% margin of victory, with 54.6% of the vote in the gubernatorial election, becoming the first Democrat to succeed another Democrat as Governor of New Hampshire since 1854.

However, Republicans gained control of the State House in 2014, and in 2016 elections, Republican Executive Councilor Chris Sununu was elected as Governor, giving Republicans full control over state government.[8] However, the state narrowly went to Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in that year's presidential election. Meanwhile, Democratic governor Maggie Hassan defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte to join Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Representatives Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster to make the entire congressional delegation represented by the Democratic party for the first time since 1854.

In the 2018 midterm elections, both chambers of the state legislature returned to Democratic control, while Sununu was reelected as governor, resulting in divided government. While New Hampshire Democrats retained their seats in the 2020 federal elections, Republicans regained the majority in the state's Senate, House of Representatives, and Executive Council. New Hampshire's incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Sununu also won the election to his third term in office against Democrat Dan Feltes. This election signaled Republican strength on a state level, flipping the Senate from a 14-10 Democratic majority to a 14-10 Republican majority.[9] The house flipped to the GOP with 213 Republicans and 187 Democrats.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ J. Pomante II, Michael; Li, Quan (15 Dec 2020). "Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020". Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. 19 (4): 503–509. doi:10.1089/elj.2020.0666. S2CID 225139517.
  2. ^ Leip, David. "General Election Results – New Hampshire". United States Election Atlas. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "RSA653". Archived from the original on 2007-09-25. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  4. ^ "Section 653:9 Presidential Primary Election". www.gencourt.state.nh.us.
  5. ^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – New Hampshire". US Election Atlas. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  6. ^ Kocher, Fred (2006-12-22). "Storm of change sweeps through N.H. Legislature". Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  7. ^ Senate President Sylvia Larsen, quoted in "Women make up majority in state Senate," the Manchester Union-Leader, November 6, 2008.
  8. ^ Lai, K. K. Rebecca; Lee, Jasmine C.; Russell, Karl (11 November 2016). "In a Further Blow to Democrats, Republicans Increase Their Hold on State Governments". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Square, Mary Stroka | The Center (5 November 2020). "New Hampshire Republicans gain trifecta control of state-level government". The Center Square. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  10. ^ "Republicans unexpectedly gain control of N.H. state government". The Dartmouth. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
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