UPDATE AT 5 p.m.: Kelly Ayotte has conceded the Senate race, according to a news release from her campaign.
“I just spoke with Governor Hassan to congratulate her on her election to serve in the U.S. Senate,” Ayotte said in the release distributed shortly before 5 p.m. “I wish Governor Hassan, her husband Tom, and their children Ben and Meg the very best.”
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WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan is declaring victory in the New Hampshire Senate race. But incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte is not conceding.
Hassan was leading Ayotte by 1,023 votes out of 738,420 cast, the secretary of state said. That puts the race in recount territory. Ayotte hasn’t yet conceded and the Associated Press hasn’t called the race.
In a statement Hassan says: “It’s clear that we have maintained the lead and have won this race.”
But Ayotte issued her own statement saying: “We look forward to results being announced by the secretary of state, and ensuring that every vote is counted in this race that has received an historic level of interest.”
New Hampshire is the only Senate race where a winner has not yet been declared. Regardless of which way it goes, Republicans will retain control of the Senate. Either party could request a recount.
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Concord
The Ayotte-Hassan contest took top billing as one of half a dozen around the country that will help determine which party controls the Senate next year. New Hampshire also is electing a governor and two U.S. House members. No winner had emerged in any of those races as of midnight.
The races have played out against the backdrop of New Hampshire’s battleground status in the presidential race — Republican nominee Donald Trump frequently returned to the state that gave him his first primary victory in February even as polls showed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton pulling ahead. Clinton invested heavily in the state as well, sending high-profile surrogate after surrogate to New Hampshire and campaigning here herself several times after losing the first-in-the-nation primary to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Jason Jarvis, 41, of Swanzey, said he voted for Trump because he thinks Clinton is a criminal. He called the entire election season awful.
“I think it’s been more of, ‘This is why you shouldn’t vote for this person’ and not ‘why you should vote for me,’ ” said Jarvis, an independent who paints and restores houses for a living.
Given the stakes, the Senate race attracted attention from the start and the interest only increased as Ayotte’s complicated relationship with Trump evolved. First, she said she supported Trump but wasn’t endorsing him. In early October, she said she “absolutely” would tell a child to aspire to be like him but quickly took back those remarks. A few days later, she rescinded her support altogether based on newly released 2005 recordings in which Trump bragged about using his fame to force himself on women. She said she’d write in vice presidential nominee Mike Pence instead.
In Hopkinton, voter Margaret Blank called Ayotte’s support for Trump “a huge bobble.”
“I think principled Republicans should’ve taken a strong stand against Trump. He’s not a Republican, and he’s not fit to hold office,” said Blank, 47, an environmental engineer. “I went straight-ticket Democrat this year, which I don’t usually do. I never go straight ticket on anything, but the Republican pool is polluted by Donald Trump.”
Hassan brought up Trump frequently, arguing that Ayotte showed bad judgment in supporting him for as long as she did and put political calculations ahead of principle when she changed her position. Ayotte countered that, unlike Hassan, she has been willing to stand up to her party’s leadership. She cast herself as an independent, bipartisan senator while portraying Hassan as a rubber stamp for Democrats and a hypocrite for taking credit for a state budget she initially vetoed as governor.
New Hampshire’s secretary of state said he believes turnout in the state this year was higher than in any other presidential election.
Secretary of State Bill Gardner told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that he was basing his projections on “everything I’ve seen today” and the fact that many towns were beating the numbers they tabulated in 2008 and 2012.
Last week, Gardner predicted a record turnout of 738,000 voters.
Nearly all the polls in New Hampshire closed at 7 p.m., though about 25 remained open until 8 p.m.
New Hampshire officials said they have not seen issues with voter fraud or intimidation in the state.
The offices of the U.S. attorney and the attorney general staffed Election Day hotlines for voter inquiries and complaints.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Zuckerman said some minor glitches came up, which is normal when there’s big voter turnout.
A machine that stores and counts ballots temporarily stopped working at a polling place in Manchester on Tuesday morning. Officials went on to collect the paper ballots at the polling place, putting them in a box until the machine was fixed.
Polls stayed open for an extra hour in Dover because the city mistakenly sent an email to voters with the wrong closing time.
Voting was supposed to end at 7 p.m., but the New Hampshire Democratic Party sought a court order requiring polls to remain open until 8 p.m. after the incorrect time was given to voters.