New Hampshire 2010 Election Results

New Hampshire held its general election on November 2, 2010, deciding 424 legislative seats across 127 districts and the office of Governor. Control shifted: the Senate moved from a 14-10 Democratic majority to a 19-5 Republican majority; the House moved from a 225-175 Democratic majority to a 298-102 Republican majority.

Highlights

• Republicans ended the Democratic trifecta, retaking the legislature four years after Democrats ousted them in 2006. They won more than two-thirds of the seats in both chambers, so Gov. John Lynch (D) now faced a Republican legislature.
• Lynch beat John Stephen (R) by nearly 8 points to win a fourth consecutive two-year term, making him the longest-serving governor since colonial times. He had blunted the Republicans' tax message by pledging to veto any sales or income tax. In conceding, Stephen said the results showed voters simply don't want more taxes.
• In the Senate, where Republicans turned a 14-10 Democratic majority into a 19-5 Republican one, the losers included Senate Majority Leader Maggie Hassan (D), who lost Senate District 23 to Russell Prescott (R) by about 7 points. Other Democratic senators unseated included Jackie Cilley (D) in District 6 and Martha Fuller Clark (D), who lost District 24 to Nancy Stiles (R) by about 540 votes. On the other side, Lou D'Allesandro (D) survived, holding District 20 by about 165 votes.
• Those margins let the new majorities override the governor. In June 2012, the House and Senate overrode seven of Lynch's vetoes, including bills on voter ID and late-term abortion, and sustained six.

Legislature

• House (400 seats): 216 D, 173 R, 11 other or vacant before the election, 101 D, 299 R after; control moved from Democrats to Republicans.
• Senate (24 seats): 14 D, 10 R before the election, 5 D, 19 R after; control moved from Democrats to Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races