While Vice President Harris narrowly won the 2024 presidential race in New Hampshire, voters elected a rightwing governor by nearly 10 points — a margin that was too big for many down-ballot candidates to overcome. In the State Senate, two seats were lost for a new chamber makeup of 8-16. In the House, which is the largest state legislative chamber in the nation with 400 seats, the margins were razor thin, with 20 seats lost by around 200 votes or less.

Pro-democracy lawmakers in both chambers will fight to protect Granite Staters from the impact of a second Trump presidency and TSP is positioned to help these leaders make a strong case for rebuilding governing power in 2026.

Our work in New Hampshire focused on elevating and professionalizing campaigns in a state where the sheer number of races can be an obstacle. In the House, there are 400 districts, a mix of single-member and multi-member districts. Historically, campaigns used a “one size fits all” approach — running ads featuring full slates of candidates, with no opportunity for individualized messaging. But after 2023, when TSP fueled several successful special elections, we worked with our in-state spending partners to make individualized ad campaigns possible in key districts — so candidates could hone their own unique message.

20 seats were lost across New Hampshire’s 400(!) House districts, along with 2 in the Senate. Despite losses in both chambers, our investments powered huge strides in seeding a more effective campaign operation in New Hampshire. 

In the critical two weeks leading up to Election Day in the state, Giving Circles fueled a Door Knocking Challenge which incentivizes candidates to spend the majority of their time meeting voters on the doors. Many of the candidates who participated in this Door Knocking Challenge won their seats by narrow margins; that face-to-face contact was game-changing. Four of the participants won their seats by less than 326 votes!

With such close margins in the House, Democratic lawmakers will have a significant impact on policy and some ability to protect the most extreme rightwing attacks.

The States Project was early to identify the New Hampshire Senate as the most endangered majority in the country in 2020, after helping to flip it in 2018 by only 300 votes. This time the margin was similar, but with the opposite outcome. Just 285 votes changing would have prevented a GOP majority.

In 2018, The States Project helped flip the New Hampshire Senate, fueling five candidates to victory, including four new seats. Just 300 votes gave governing power to the new majority.