New Hampshire 2012 Election Results

New Hampshire held its general election on November 6, 2012, deciding 424 legislative seats across 228 districts and the office of Governor. Control shifted: the House moved from a 298-102 Republican majority to a 221-179 Democratic majority.

Highlights

• Two years after losing it in a Republican wave, Democrats took back the House and held the governor's office, open after Gov. John Lynch (D) decided against a fifth term. Republicans kept the Senate, but their margin there fell from 19-5 to 13-11, ending the veto-proof majorities in both chambers that had overridden seven Lynch vetoes in a single day in June.
• Maggie Hassan (D), a former state Senate majority leader whose tax record was the target of Republican ads, beat Ovide Lamontagne (R) by about 12 points. Lamontagne conceded and blamed "weeks of those negative attack ads."
• In the House, Democrats more than doubled their caucus, winning seats in Carroll and Belknap counties, which had sent no Democrats to the House two years earlier. Speaker Bill O'Brien (R), whom Hassan had made as much a target as her opponent, kept his seat but lost the gavel. He finished second behind David Woodbury (D) in two-seat Hillsborough 5, holding on by about 70 votes. In December the new majority returned Terie Norelli to the Speaker's chair. Norelli (D) had held it before O'Brien.
• In the Senate, Sen. Jim Luther (R) was the only incumbent to lose, falling to Peggy Gilmour (D) by about 1,100 votes in Senate District 12. Two Republican incumbents held on narrowly:
  • Sen. Andy Sanborn (R) won Senate District 9 by about 210 votes over Lee Nyquist (D), who requested a recount that could have tied the chamber.
  • Sen. David Boutin (R) held Senate District 16 by about 400 votes.
• Voters rejected all 3 ballot questions. Question 1, which would have barred any new tax on personal income, won a majority but fell well short of the two-thirds a constitutional amendment needs. Question 2, which would have let the Legislature share authority over court rules, drew just under half, and Question 3 on calling a constitutional convention lost by nearly two to one.

Legislature

• House (400 seats): 104 D, 294 R, 2 other or vacant before the election, 221 D, 179 R after; control moved from Republicans to Democrats.
• Senate (24 seats): 5 D, 19 R before the election, 11 D, 13 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures