Today, Hanover voters will go to Hanover High School to cast their primary ballots for Democratic and Republican nominees ahead of the 2022 general election in November. Voting will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and voters who are “undeclared” — not registered members of either party — may still vote on a party ballot.
Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, is running for re-election to a third two-year term. He faces five Republican contenders. On the Democrat ballot, New Hampshire state senator Tom Sherman is running unopposed.
Senator Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., is seeking a second term as one of New Hampshire’s senators and faces two competitors in her primary: Paul Krautmann and John Riggieri. Although 11 Republicans are on the ballot for this Senate seat, the primary is largely a competition between state senator and New Hampshire senate president Chuck Morse and former U.S. Army brigadier general Don Bolduc, according to FiveThirtyEight. Morse, a more “mainstream” Republican according to the New York Times, is contrasted by Bulduc, who denies the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Anne McLane Kuster ’78, D-N.H., is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for a sixth term as the House representative for New Hampshire’s second congressional district. Seven candidates will face off in the Republican primary for her seat; the top two contenders are Keene, N.H. mayor George Hansel and former Hillsborough County Treasurer Robert Burns.
On the state level, Hanover residents will also decide between a number of candidates for state representative. Voters will choose four of six candidates on the Democratic ballot for N.H. state representative from Grafton 12, which includes the towns of Hanover and Lyme. The four current representatives — all Democrats — are Mary Hakken-Phillips, Dartmouth government professor Russell Muirhead, James M. Murphy and Sharon Nordgren. They are joined on the ballot by two Dartmouth students, Miles Brown ’23 and Nicolás Macri ’24. There are no Republican candidates for state representative in Grafton 12, although voters can choose to write in a candidate.
John McIntyre is running uncontested on the Republican ballot for state senator in District 5 — which includes parts of Grafton and Sullivan Counties — and will face Democratic incumbent Suzanne M. Prentiss in November, who is also running uncontested.
One Democrat, Wendy A. Piper, is running unopposed on the Democratic ballot for county commissioner. For Register of Deeds, John H. Randlett is running unopposed on the Republican ballot and Kelley Jean Monahan is running unopposed on the Democratic ballot. The Republican ballot also includes two names for nomination as delegates to the state convention, Thomas N. Toner and Jim Rubens.
For Grafton County attorney, Martha Ann Hornick is running unopposed on the Democratic ballot and faces no Republican challengers. Democrats Karen Liot Hill and Jeffrey F. Stiegler are respectively running unopposed on their party’s ballot for county treasurer and sheriff; both face no Republican challengers. Paul Ingbretson is running unopposed on the Republican ballot for Register of Probate with no Democrat challengers.
While the party membership of local and state offices is not subject to change until after the results of the general election are released in November, New Hampshire’s reputation as a purple state may play an important role in determining the majority party of the national legislature. Currently, Vice-President Kamala Harris acts as a tie-breaking vote for the Democrats in the evenly split Senate and the party holds only one more seat than necessary to secure a majority in the House.
