The States Project knew we needed to end unchecked rightwing control of at least one chamber in the New Hampshire State legislature to prevent a rightwing trifecta by 2024.

Rightwing state lawmakers have used Trump’s Big Lie to advance anti-voter policies in the legislature. These bills, designed to decrease voters’ confidence in our election systems, could cause delays and chaos in the next presidential election, creating an opportunity for rightwing majorities to ignore the will of their voters and appoint electors for their choice of president.

After redistricting, we believed that the clearest path to a new majority in New Hampshire was in the State House.

Last November we netted 10 seats, and after a February 2023 special election, the margins are 198-201. New Hampshire state lawmakers elected in 2024 will be the ones in office when presidential electors are sent to DC, so we will have another opportunity to help elect a pro-democracy majority in the state.

Special Elections

In a special election for a House district that was tied in the November general election, TSP helped the incumbent hold the seat by 117 votes. This win narrows the rightwing majority to 198-201 with one seat still vacant in the 400-seat New Hampshire House.

With the margins this narrow the minority has opportunities to block the rightwing’s agenda in the House.

• New Hampshire has a 400-member House of Representatives (the largest chamber in the country!) and tiny districts that can have fewer than  2,000 voters that make it a particularly unique body. We helped to design a program that could set us on a path to shifting the balance of power in the chamber by 2024.
• 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. 
  • Zoe Manos (HD-RO 12) knocked 1,545 doors and won by 325 votes
  • Eric Turer knocked ( HD-RO 6) 484 doors and won by 15 votes
  • Ben Ming (HD-HI 35) knocked 370 doors and won by 129 votes
  • Heather Baldwin (HD-GR 4) knocked 465 doors and won by 137 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.