The Opportunity

We’re working to end rightwing control in both chambers in the New Hampshire legislature by flipping the House and tying the Senate.

In 2022, The States Project helped gain 10 seats in the New Hampshire State House — making major progress toward our goal of a new majority in the chamber by 2024. After netting another seat in a September special by flipping a Republican-held seat, the balance of power in the House is now 197-199, with four vacant seats that will be filled in upcoming special elections, three which favor Democrats and one which favors Republicans.

With the margins this narrow in a chamber that almost never has full attendance in session, the minority can block the rightwing’s agenda in the House, and even pass policies that can improve lives.

We need to hold every seat we gained last November and flip two more seats to end rightwing control of the chamber in 2024.

In the Senate, we’re looking to flip two seats to tie the chamber. This would give lawmakers the leverage to block harmful policies, and negotiate around enacting good policies. We’re hitting the gas early to lay the groundwork we’ll need to fuel a new House majority and build governing power in the Senate.

The Stakes

This legislative session proved what New Hampshire lawmakers committed to serving their constituents can accomplish — even while in the minority. One example? Senate Assistant Minority Leader Becky Whitley’s work to develop and enact two major policies that will help children, moms, and families across the state:

• A package for maternal health and working moms, also known as the MOMnibus, expands quality, affordable healthcare for pregnant and postpartum women, including health insurance coverage for new mothers, establishes a commission to study expanding universal home visiting for new families, ​​and helps keep young children in childcare when new parents are at work.
• More affordable childcare to help parents get back to and stay at work — a critical policy priority in a state where more than 25% of babies live in a household with income levels well below the federal poverty rate and where more than 40 childcare centers have closed in the last few years.

Abortion access is also on the line in New Hampshire. Polling indicates that most Granite Staters support the current protections for abortion in their state, but this past March a wide range of abortion laws — including both protections and restrictions — were put to a vote in the House.

Because of the razor-thin margins in the House, lawmakers we helped elect last November were able to uphold New Hampshirites’ existing personal freedom and block extreme abortion bans.

The Landscape

The rightwing holds the majority by two seats in the House. Under the current district maps, we see a path to shifting power in the chamber to prevent a rightwing trifecta in 2024.

Early dollars will help build out effective campaign infrastructure, including hiring staff to fill critical roles. Having that staff in place will be key for two House special elections that are slated to take place early next year.

• 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. 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.