CONCORD, NH – New Hampshire is currently embroiled in a trying dispute with the Democratic National Committee over the date of its famous first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
And White House hopefuls from both major political parties continue to criss-cross the state ahead of its consequential 2024 presidential primary.
New Hampshire has long been known in the political world for its prominent position along the road to the White House, but just as important is its status as a key general election battleground and the only swing state in New York’s blue England.
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A sign outside the state capitol building in Concord, New Hampshire, notes the state’s pivotal position over the past century in holding the leadoff presidential primary. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
With the 2024 election just over a year away, the state will once again see competitive contests for president, Congress and governor.
Furthermore, what’s even more interesting in New Hampshire is that Democrats seem to have a lock on the state’s federal elections while Republicans enjoy total control of the state’s executive offices and the legislature.
“We are organizing toward winning State House majorities and flipping the Governor’s seat, in addition to re-electing Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster to Congress and winning the White House in 2024,” New Hampshire said. Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley in a statement.
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New Hampshire GOP chairman Chris Ager is also aiming for gains in 2024, telling Fox News that “we need to have a voice in Washington that will represent more than the state’s left-leaning Democrats. I fully expect that there will be we have a Republican Representative in Congress.”
“New Hampshire is a great place to live because we have a Republican House, Senate, and governor. And we want to keep it that way,” Ager said.
Democrats have carried New Hampshire in every presidential election for three decades, except for 2000, when then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush narrowly defeated then-Vice President Al Gore for four of the state’s electoral votes, helping Bush win the White House.
But the margins of victory were in the single digits.
Democrats also won four straight Senate elections in 2014, and 11 of the last 12 House elections over the past decade.
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire at the Salem GOP Labor Day picnic in Salem, New Hampshire, on Sept. 4, 2023. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
But it’s a different story in state elections, where popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu has won four consecutive two-year terms as governor and Republicans have won majorities in both houses of the state legislature in four of the past five elections. They also currently control the five-member Executive Council (which acts as an elected cabinet, approving nominations and major state contracts) by a 4-1 margin.
THE 2023 ELECTIONS IN THIS COMPETITIVE STATE COULD BE A ROADMAP TO 2024.
When asked why Democrats seem to dominate federal elections while Republicans have the upper hand in state contests, veteran New Hampshire-based political scientist and New England College president Wayne Lesperance told Fox News, “Granite Staters are very pragmatic voters. They check individuals and not so many parties.”
Lesperance also noted that while there is a “long history of Yankee Republicans – fiscally conservative and socially moderate,” the state has been “affected by people moving to New Hampshire from Massachusetts,” which has changed the demographics of the electorate.
Democratic Sen. congratulated Maggie Hassan supporters after voting on Election Day in her hometown of Newfields, New Hampshire, on Nov. 8, 2022. (Fox News)
Purple New Hampshire is surrounded by the blue-leaning states of Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont — and is the only competitive battleground in the New England and New York/New Jersey region. Pennsylvania, at the southern end of the Northeast, is the only other swing state in the area.
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“New Hampshire is very different from its neighboring states, and it has been that way for a long time,” Neil Levesque told Fox News.
The longtime executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College said the “Live Free or Die” state has no income tax or sales tax.
“Since we’re close to Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine, we can’t get too ideological,” he emphasized.
In anticipation of next year’s elections, both major political parties are expected to spend a lot of resources in New Hampshire on both House races and what could lead to one of the most competitive gubernatorial showdowns in the country. whereupon Sununu decided not to be re-elected. .
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And in the race for the White House, New Hampshire could once again prove crucial.
As Levesque noted, “if Al Gore had won our four electoral votes, he would have been President of the United States.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more in our Fox News Digital election hub.
