WEST LEBANON — Lebanon City Councilor Sue Prentiss appeared headed to a narrow victory for an open New Hampshire Senate seat in the heart of the Upper Valley as voters in the Granite State helped settle several contested primaries.
As expected, Prentiss handily won Lebanon, 1,399-780, while her opponent, former state Rep. Beatriz Pastor, a Dartmouth College professor from Lyme, won in Hanover by a more than two-to-one margin, 1,500-733.
But a strong showing by Prentiss in several other towns, including Charlestown, Claremont and Canaan, appeared to make up the difference.
Prentiss said unofficial returns showed her with a 73-vote victory across the nine-town district, while the Pastor camp, which had not conceded, said they showed a 47-vote difference in unofficial tallies.
“It feels great,” Prentiss said as Democratic party leaders started to call to congratulate her around 10 p.m. “We had a positive message in an uncertain time. I’m honored by the confidence that voters have shown in me.”
As expected, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu cruised past conservative activist Karen Testerman, of Franklin, in his bid for a third two-year term.
Two Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes, D-Concord, and Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky, also of Concord, were vying to take on the two-term incumbent. With 66% of precincts counted, Feltes had 52.5% to 47.5% for Volinsky. Feltes claimed victory around 11 p.m., but Volinsky had not conceded the race.
Claremont resident Hillary Walsh, a teacher who voted in the Democratic primary, said she backed Volinsky because of his work as an attorney in the landmark Claremont school funding lawsuit, which established that New Hampshire must fund an adequate education for each child. He also has spoken about replacing the state’s reliance on the property tax with other revenue.
“He understands the pain of the Claremont taxpayer and the pain of being a teacher in a low-(property value) district,” Walsh said outside the polls.
But Susie Streeter, another Claremont Democrat, said she favored Feltes.
“I like his demeanor and down-home attitude,” she said.
Feltes won Plainfield, 233-219, and wealthy towns like Bedford and Hanover, while Volinsky, who had the backing of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., fared well in some property-poor towns, taking Canaan 200-158 and Charlestown by a 204-131 margin. Volinsky also won Lebanon, 1,112-1,006.
“Upscale suburban Democrats showing no love for Bernie Sanders-endorsed candidate,” University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala tweeted about Feltes’ win in Bedford.
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a former governor who was first elected to the Senate in 2008, swept past minor competition from former state Rep. Tom Alciere and retired dentist Paul Krautmann in the Democratic primary in her bid for a third term. The 73-year-old Shaheen has raised more than $15 million and has about $7 million cash on hand.
In the Republican Senate primary, Corky Messner, a former corporate lawyer from Denver who now lives in Wolfeboro, was leading retired Army Gen. Donald Bolduc, a Laconia native. With 67% of the vote counted, Messner had 50.3% support to 43% for Bolduc, and the Associated Press called the race for Messner. Messner won in Canaan, 148-87, and also in Plainfield, 94-79.
Messner had the endorsement of President Donald Trump and had put at least $3.8 million of his own money into the race.
But Bolduc appeared to have strong support from the state’s veterans community. “I like that he’s a real, solid vet. I like that he’s decorated, and I like his style,” former state Rep. Joe Osgood, R-Claremont, said of Bolduc. “I think he will go down (to Washington) and get things done.”
In the race for New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., handily defeated little-known challenger Joseph Mirzoeff.
But the GOP primary to challenge her was close, pitting former state Reps. Steve Negron, of Nashua, and Lynne Blankenbeker, of Concord, along with Matthew Bjelobrk, of Haverhill, and Eli Clemmer of Berlin.
With 29% of precincts reporting, Negron had 46% to 41.2% for Blankenbeker, who conceded shortly before 11 p.m.
Negron lost the 2018 election to Kuster.
In the Senate District 5 race to succeed state Sen. Martha Hennessey, D-Hanover, Pastor had sought to label Prentiss as a former Republican. Prentiss, a former mayor in Lebanon whose career has been in emergency services, left the GOP after Trump’s election and served as co-chair of Democrat Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign in New Hampshire earlier this year.
State Rep. John Cloutier, D-Claremont, said he liked her municipal experience and union support and said Democrats need to be open to former Republicans alienated by Trump.
“We need former Republicans,” Cloutier said, “especially in Claremont. It can’t be taken for granted by Democrats.”
But former state Rep. Ray Gagnon, D-Claremont, who served with Pastor, said he was backing her and said she had the legislative skills to do well in the Senate.
“I just remember her as a dynamo,” Gagnon said.
Prentiss won Charlestown with 228 votes, to 106 for Pastor. And the Lebanon Democrat also ran well in Canaan, pulling in 229 votes to 149 for Pastor. But Pastor took Plainfield, 284-205, and Cornish, 176-118.
Charlestown resident Timothy O’Hearne was on the Republican ballot, but the district leans heavily Democratic.
Eight Democratic candidates were also vying for four New Hampshire House seats in the Grafton 12 district representing Hanover and Lyme.
Along with longtime state Rep. Sharon Nordgren, also running were Orian Welling, Dartmouth College junior Riley Gordon, Mary Hakken-Phillips, Brittney Joyce, Joanna Jaspersohn, Russell Muirhead and retired physician Jim Murphy. Nordgren, Muirhead, Hakken-Phillips and Joyce were the top vote-getters in Hanover. Lyme’s results were not available at deadline.
No Republicans had filed for the seats.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.