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OVERVIEW: Despite predictions of a red wave for Republicans, New Hampshire Democrats overperformed polls and made significant strides towards a majority in the state legislature. New Hampshire Republicans’ attempts to tilt the election in their favor through gerrymandered maps led to results counter to popular vote totals, but Granite State Democrats picked up ground in Concord and are well-poised to take back majorities in the State House, Senate, and Executive Council in the next election cycle.
Our federal delegation had resounding re-election victories. Despite predictions that suggested these would be extremely tight races, Senator Maggie Hassan, Congresswoman Kuster, and Congressman Pappas all won their re-election bid by staggering margins.
Maggie Hassan was considered the most vulnerable Senate seat for Democrats, yet she swept the floor with her Republican challenger Don Bolduc by almost 10%. She won every single county besides Belknap, including Coös, which has not voted Democratic for president since 2012 and voted for Kelly Ayotte in 2016.
Annie Kuster was elected to her sixth term, making her the first Democrat in state history to win major office six times in a row. This year had her largest margin of victory ever for the District 2 seat.
Chris Pappas, despite being tagged as vulnerable by national Republicans, decisively defeated his opponent Karoline Leavitt by over 8 points.
Chris Sununu couldn’t bring his Republican slate across the finish line.
Though Sununu won his re-election bid, his top-of-the-ticket counterparts didn’t even come close, making it clear his presence on the ballot had little influence down ticket.
Sununu’s margin of victory was significantly more narrow than in previous years, doing 16% worse against Dr. Tom Sherman this year than he did against Dan Feltes in 2020.
Sununu’s key endorsements in the Republican primaries were Chuck Morse for US Senate and George Hansel for Congress, both of whom were defeated by significant margins.
Sununu was outperformed by Maggie Hassan in their shared hometown of Newfields.
Democrats made significant gains in Concord. Despite hyperpartisan gerrymandering by New Hampshire Republicans, voters turned out in droves to vote for Democrats down the ballot.
In total, the five Democratic candidates for Executive Council won more votes than their Republican counterparts statewide.
Despite maps designed to be favorable to New Hampshire Republicans in the legislature, they did not gain any ground in our State Senate. Democratic State Senate candidates received more votes than the Republican candidates.
Though final results are still unsure, it’s clear that Democrats picked up a substantial amount of seats in the State House. More voters voted for Democrats than Republicans for the State House.
New Hampshire Democrats made history by electing the first trans man in the nation – Representative-Elect James Roesner – to the State House.
KEY TAKEAWAY: New Hampshire voters wanted strong leaders to stand against the anti-choice, anti-public education extremist agenda of the NH GOP. Democrats exceeded national expectations and proved that our strong investments in grassroots mobilization were fruitful and that our message is resonating with Granite Staters.
-- *2022 Executive Council results: 50.12% Democratic / 49.88% Republican
2022 State Senate results: 52.10% Democratic / 47.9% Republican
2022 House of Representatives results: 50.79% Democratic / 49.21% Republican