Elections in New Hampshire - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Elections for state offices

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

holds its state general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

s on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (better known as Election Day

Election Day (United States)

Election Day in the United States is the day set by law for the general elections of public officials. It occurs on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The earliest possible date is November 2 and the latest possible date is November 8...

) 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

Elections in the United States

The United States has a federal government, with elected officials at the federal , state and local levels. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people, through an Electoral College. In modern times, the electors virtually always vote with the popular...

.

During general elections in New Hampshire, elections are held for the positions of Governor

Governor of New Hampshire

The Governor of the State of New Hampshire is the supreme executive magistrate of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.The governor is elected at the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Vermont, to hold...

, Executive Councilor

Executive Council of New Hampshire

The Executive Council of the State of New Hampshire is the executive body of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The Executive Council advises the Governor on all matters and provides a check on the governor's power. New Hampshire is one of the few states that has an Executive Council, and is the...

, state Senator

New Hampshire Senate

The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population...

, state Representative

New Hampshire House of Representatives

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...

, 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. In Strafford County

Strafford County, New Hampshire

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 112,233 people, 42,581 households, and 27,762 families residing in the county. The population density was 304 people per square mile . There were 45,539 housing units at an average density of 124 per square mile...

, for example, three County Commissioners are elected to two-year terms at every general election. In Carroll County

Carroll County, New Hampshire

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,666 people, 18,351 households, and 12,313 families residing in the county. The population density was 18/km² . There were 34,750 housing units at an average density of 14/km²...

, 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.

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

For more information about the structure of New Hampshire's state government,
see Government of New Hampshire

Government of New Hampshire

The State of New Hampshire is a democratic republic, with a form of government similar to that of the United States.The New Hampshire state capital is Concord. The capital was Portsmouth during colonial times, and Exeter from 1775 to 1808...

National elections

New Hampshire is well-known in national politics for holding the first primary

United States presidential primary

The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses is one of the first steps in the process of electing the President of the United States of America. The primary elections are run by state and local governments, while caucuses are private events run by the political parties...

in the quadrennial U.S. presidential election cycle. This so-called New Hampshire primary

New Hampshire primary

The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...

is actually mandated by state law. New Hampshire RSA 653:9
requires that the state's presidential primary elections be scheduled on the earlier of:

the second Tuesday in March, or
no less than seven (7) days prior to the holding of a "similar election" in any other state

History

New Hampshire

voters selected Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

s for office during the 19th and 20th centuries until 1992. Since then, voters have chosen Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

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.

Electoral shift

New Hampshire has undergone a partisan shift since 1992. Historically, New Hampshire was a staunchly conservative

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

state and regularly voted Republican. Some sources trace the founding of the Republican Party to the town of Exeter

Exeter, New Hampshire

Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town's population was 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood...

in 1853. Prior to 1992, New Hampshire had only strayed from the Republican Party for three presidential candidates—Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

, Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

and Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

. The state voted for Presidents Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

and Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

twice by overwhelming majorities.

Beginning in 1992, New Hampshire became a swing state

Swing state

In United States presidential politics, a swing state is a state in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support in securing that state's electoral college votes...

in both national and local elections. The state supported Democrats Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

in 1992 and 1996, John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

in 2004, and Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

in 2008. It was the only U.S. state to support George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

in the 2000 election

United States presidential election, 2000

The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....

and go Democratic in the 2004 election

United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...

. The state elected two 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

Paul Hodes

Paul Hodes is an attorney, musician, and the former U.S. Representative for , serving fom 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was New Hampshire's first Jewish representative....

in the 2nd district), re-elected Governor John Lynch, and gained a majority on the Executive Council

Executive Council of New Hampshire

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. 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

Jeanne Shaheen

Jeanne Shaheen is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the Senior United States Senator from New Hampshire. The first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both a Governor and U.S. Senator, she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire, serving from...

defeated incumbent Republican John E. Sununu

John E. Sununu

John Edward Sununu is a former Republican United States Senator from New Hampshire, of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian ancestry. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire six year term. He is the son of former New Hampshire Governor John H...

for the U.S. Senate in a rematch of the 2002 contest.

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. At the end of the 2008 election cycle, voters registered Democratic outnumbered those registered Republican.

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.

In the 2010 midterm elections

United States elections, 2010

The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...

, New Hampshire voted out both of its Democratic House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

members in preference of the Republican Party.

External links

Election Division at the New Hampshire Secretary of State official website
- New Hampshire Election Law

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Elections for state offices

National elections

History

Electoral shift

See also

External links