Incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan has won the New Hampshire Senate race, defeating Republican challenger Don Bolduc, according to a projection.
The winner was projected by DecisionDeskHQ at 10:30 p.m. EST.
The Granite State race was one of the most closely watched Senate races this election cycle along with Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina as both parties battled to break a 50-50 deadlock.
Bolduc, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, ran as a conservative political outsider ready to take on the Washington establishment. His energetic campaign featured dozens of town hall events across the state where he met and spoke with voters. Bolduc also ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2020, which gave him an edge over his primary opponents, who struggled with name recognition in New Hampshire.
Hassan, a former governor, was considered one of the more vulnerable Democrat senators this election cycle.
She first ran for Senate in 2016 while serving as New Hampshire’s chief executive and won by a tiny margin of about 1,000 votes. Since going to Washington, however, her poll numbers have sagged, a hurdle she worked to overcome on the campaign trail while running for a second term.
Toward the end of September, she enjoyed a considerable lead of 9 points, 50% to Bolduc’s 41%. By the end of October though, her edge had shrunk to just 3 points, and a Traflagar/Daily Wire poll taken the week before Election Day showed Bolduc had taken the lead.
The economy was a top issue on the campaign trail. Bolduc emphasized repeatedly that he would work to cut federal spending. Hassan, who has mostly supported President Joe Biden’s agenda, attempted to put some distance between herself and Biden on the economy, saying that she is “pushing Joe Biden to release more of our oil reserves.” Home heating oil prices remain high, an urgent issue to many Granite Staters as the colder months approach.
Over the course of the campaign, Hassan also dug her heels in on polarizing issues such as her support for late-term abortion even though nearly 70% of New Hampshire residents approve of some restrictions on abortion.
Bolduc has said he would support “no federal legislation” because abortion is “a state’s matter.”
Hassan has called Bolduc an “extreme” candidate, while Bolduc has said Hassan has “failed” as a senator.
During the primary, Bolduc, who was endorsed at the end of October by former president Donald Trump, was not seen by his party as the strongest candidate to take on Hassan, in part due to his previous comments saying he believed Trump won the 2020 election. As his campaign progressed though, Bolduc reversed his stance, saying he now believes that the election “was not stolen.”
New Hampshire is a purple state where around 40 percent of voters are neither Republican nor Democrat.
