A closer look at N.H.’s election results

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With record turnout, the Granite State produced some unique voting numbers

Many voters in New Hampshire and across the nation are still reeling from the presidential election on Nov. 8, in which Republican Donald Trump defied the polls to defeat heavily favored Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Voters had to wait longer to find out who won in the Granite State, where the contest was so close that totals were still being tallied deep into the day on Wednesday. By then, the presidential results were moot, as Trump had already earned enough electoral votes to declare victory. As it turns out, Clinton carried New Hampshire and took its four electoral votes. The difference was a mere 2,687 votes out of well over 700,000 ballots cast, or less than half a percent.

Incredibly, the U.S. Senate race between Gov. Maggie Hassan and incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte was even closer, with Hassan ultimately claiming victory by 1,019 votes — a little over a 10th of a percent. Ayotte finally conceded shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday. That result, though not entirely moot, was dampened for Democrats by the fact that Republicans nationally had already won enough seats to retain a majority in the Senate.

Here are some other interesting takeaways from Election Day in New Hampshire, along with some Seacoast-area results.

• After experiencing record turnout in the state primary back in February (542,433 ballots cast), it looks like New Hampshire has set a new state record for voter turnout in a general election as well.
Although the state has not released an official total, Secretary of State William Gardner predicted that 738,606 ballots would be cast on Tuesday, and it looks like he was pretty close to the mark. Not counting write-ins, a total of 738,443 people voted in the U.S. Senate race between Hassan and Ayotte. The previous state record was 719,403 ballots in 2008.

Maggie Hassan Jeanne Shaheen

Gov. Maggie Hassan (right) with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen at a rally at UNH on Nov. 7. photo by Michael Sterling

• What’s especially interesting about the turnout is that more voters participated in the U.S. Senate race than in the presidential race, in which 731,525 ballots were cast (not including write-ins). That’s a difference of nearly 7,000 votes. Typically, presidential races garner the highest voter participation. The unusual swap this time around may reflect both lack of satisfaction with the presidential options, and elevated interest in a high-profile Senate race in which both major parties spent tens of millions of dollars on the campaigns.

• New Hampshire is the first state in U.S. history to elect an all-female, all-Democratic congressional delegation, with Hassan joining Jeanne Shaheen in the U.S. Senate, and Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster winning the state’s two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
New Hampshire previously elected an all-female delegation in 2012, but one of them, Ayotte, was a Republican. New Hampshire also elected Hassan as governor in 2012, which made it the first state ever to have an all-female congressional delegation and a female governor.

Carol Shea-Porter

Carol Shea-Porter at a rally at UNH on Nov. 7. photo by Michael Sterling

• This was the fourth straight presidential election in which the Democratic candidate won New Hampshire. Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008, and John Kerry topped George W. Bush here in 2004 (though Bush won the national election). The last time a Republican nominee won New Hampshire was in 2000, when Bush beat Al Gore.

• Although Democrats swept the federal races, Republicans owned the state contests, taking the governor’s seat and retaining majorities in the House, Senate, and Executive Council.
With his victory over Democrat Colin Van Ostern, Chris Sununu will become the first Republican governor of New Hampshire since Craig Benson, who served one term after being elected in 2002. Democrats have held the governor’s seat for 18 of the last 20 years, going back to when Shaheen took the office in 1997.

Chris Sununu

Chris Sununu filing to run for governor. courtesy photo

RESULTS

*winners
all results according to the N.H. Secretary of State’s office

PRESIDENT

State totals
*Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine (Democrat): 348,497
Donald Trump/Mike Pence (Republican): 345,810
Gary Johnson/Bill Weld (Libertarian): 30,484
Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka (Green Party): 6,377
Rocky De La Fuente/Michael Steinberg (American Delta): 670

Rockingham County
Trump: 90,447
Clinton: 79,994
Johnson: 7,335
Stein: 1,256
De La Fuente: 136

Strafford County
Clinton: 34,894
Trump: 29,072
Johnson: 3,258
Stein: 669
De La Fuente: 57

GOVERNOR

State totals
*Chris Sununu (Republican): 353,361
Colin Van Ostern (Democrat): 337,599
Max Abramson (Libertarian): 31,069

Rockingham County
Sununu: 94,385
Van Ostern: 74,076
Abramson: 7,499

Strafford County
Van Ostern: 34,173
Sununu: 28,878
Abramson: 3,128

U.S. SENATE

 State totals
*Maggie Hassan (Democrat): 354,649
Kelly Ayotte (Republican): 353,630
Brian Chabot (Libertarian): 12,493
Aaron Day (Independent): 17,671

Rockingham County
Ayotte: 91,361
Hassan: 81,343
Chabot: 2,986
Day: 4,438

Strafford County
Hassan: 36,023
Ayotte: 29,419
Chabot: 1,229
Day: 1,654

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 1

*Carol Shea-Porter (Democrat): 162,114
Frank Guinta (Republican): 157,209
Shawn O’Connor (Independent): 34,506
Robert Lombardo (Libertarian): 6,780
Brendan Kelly (Independent): 5,993

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

Republican majority: 3-2

District 2 (Dover/Rochester/Somersworth area)
*Andru Volinsky (Democrat): 69,436
Sam Cataldo (Republican): 61,720

District 3 (Portsmouth/Seacoast area)
*Russell Prescott (Republican): 79,319
Beth Roth (Democrat): 65,100

N.H. SENATE

Republican majority: 14-10

District 4 (Dover/Somersworth area)
*David Watters (Democrat): 15,144
Bill O’Connor (Republican): 12,283

District 6 (Rochester area)
*James Gray (Republican): 14,481
Joe Casey (Democrat): 11,793

 District 21 (Portsmouth area)
*Martha Fuller Clark (Democrat): 20,883
Peter Macdonald (Republican): 10,607

District 23 (Exeter area)
*Gill Gannon (Republican): 17,337
Alexis Simpson (Democrat): 13,343

District 24 (Hampton area)
*Dan Innis (Republican): 17,844
Tom Sherman (Democrat): 16,373

N.H. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Since the House has roughly a gazillion members (400 to be exact), we’re not doing a full breakdown, but Republicans won a substantial majority. You can find complete results for House races and other election information here.