By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – New Hampshire’s Executive Council and State Senate will remain in strong Republican control to help Republican Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte with her agenda for the next two years, beginning in January.
At noon on Wednesday, with still some votes left to count, it appeared Senate Minority Leader Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, lost her seat to Republican challenger Victoria Sullivan and Republican Tim McGough beat incumbent Democrat Shannon Chandley, D-Amherst, for Senate District 11.
This would increase the 14-10 Republican majority to 16-8 and give the upper chamber a solid hand at anything that could come from the House of Representatives.
The 4-1 majority of Republicans on the Executive Council appears to remain with the incumbents who ran for re-election all winning.
Democrat Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon will replace Cinde Warmington of Concord on the council, after Warmington decided to run instead for governor but lost in the primary to former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig.
Retiring Republican Executive Councilor Ted Gatsas of Manchester will be succeeded by John Stephen, who served as commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services from 2003-2007 and before that was deputy commissioner of Safety. He appeared to win over Democrat Jim O’Connell 54-45 percent with 84 percent of the vote, though the race has not been called.
With another race yet to be officially decided, it appeared that Republican Executive Councilor Joe Kenney of Wakefield, who represents the North Country and a large mostly rural population in the eastern part of the state, has survived a challenge from Emmett Soldati, a Somersworth business owner and Democrat.
Rye’s Janet Stevens, a Republican, was called the winner in a race where she was challenged by Democrat Jon Morgan.
With 91 percent of the vote in, David Wheeler of Milford, the Republican incumbent for District 5 appeared to have won over former state Senator Melanie Levesque, a Democrat.
In the Senate, incumbents, with the exception of Chandley and Soucy, held their own while vacancies for retiring senators were picked up by their party candidates.
State Senator Carrie Gendreau, a Littleton Republican who decided to not run for re-election will be succeeded by David Rochefort who beat Democrat Rusty Talbot.
Senate President Jeb Bradley of Wolfeboro will be replaced in the District 3 seat by Republican Mark McConkey who beat Democrat Bill Marsh.
Tara Reardon of Concord, a Democrat, will replace Becky Whitley of Hopkinton who initially considered running for Congress but did not seek re-election. She beat Republican Pamela Ean.
Retiring state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, will be replaced by Patrick Long, a Democrat after Long won over Republican Brittany Ping.
Democrats returning to Concord to serve in the Senate include Debra Altschiller of Stratham, Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth, Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua, Suzanne Prentiss of Lebanon and David Watters of Dover.
Returning Republicans to the Senate include Tim Lang, James Gray, Daniel Innis, Ruth Ward, Denise Ricciardi, Kevin Avard, Keith Murphy, Regina Birdsell, Darly Abbas, Bill Gannon, Howard Pearl and Majority Leader Sharon Carson, who could likely be chosen as the next Senate President.
Raymond Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, released the following statement regarding Tuesday’s election results:
“Last night we sent Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander to Congress and Vice President Harris won New Hampshire, but voters across our state and country ultimately chose to bring us down a different path than the one we had hoped and worked for.
“Over the days, weeks, and months to follow, we will get right back to work for the people of New Hampshire. I want to thank our candidates for stepping into the arena. I want to thank the staff who worked tirelessly for their causes. I want to thank our supporters, volunteers, donors, and everyone else who contributed to our efforts. And I want to urge you all to stay in the fight – we need you,” Buckley said.
