Long-standing Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin is stepping down after 19 years in the office.
Two well-known, experienced lawmakers are hoping to take her place.
It's a race that pits former Democratic State Senator Bev Hollingworth against current Republican State Senator Chuck Morse.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports.
In the Executive Council it's matters less whether you support an issue- like education funding or the Sexual Predators Act - than your beliefs about judicial appointments or fiscal policies.
But that hasn't stopped Democrat Bev Hollingworth and Republican Chuck Morse from using their respective long legislative records to bloody each other.
T.15
:35 I don't believe my opponent is in touch with the state. When you look at the records, that I was consistently opposed to voting for an income or sales tax. I think it's important when you look at our values, our values are voting for a death penalty when a police officer or judge or killed, or truth in sentencing, those are the values that an executive councilor are going to bring to this job, and I've lived that.
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:02 I do believe values are what this comes down to...:34 Senator Morse voted for Senate Bill 110, it tripled the insurance, did away with a program to provide healthcare coverage to people....
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1:14 do you know anyone who would vote against reductions in mercury, three times...that is totally out of touch with the state and the district.
Both were speaking at a forum in Dover Wednesday morning.
The tactic of using their records to tease out hard to quantify qualities doesn't particularly surprise St. Anselm Political Science Professor Dante Scala.
:29 I think candidates struggle to find the right handle on an Executive Council race, b/c it's so difficult ot explain what a Councilor does...so they look for proxies to explain to voters what they are like, and what the other candidate is like, they voted like this in the legislature, therefore they are going to act like this in the Executive Council.
During the Dover debate, the two candidates did drop a few nuggets about how they would proceed if elected.
Hollingworth says she believes governors have every right to appoint whomever they want when a state agency commission spot opens.
Morse says he's concerned about activist judges, and will make sure new justices will not overstep their authority.
Both agree the state should whenever possible receive as many bids as possible for contracts.
With less than two weeks to go and the race a toss-up, the candidates weren't shy in their attacks.
Each questioned the others integrity.
Morse says he believes Hollingworth is running just to be a rubber stamp for Governor Lynch.
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:11 that's why she is running for office. And that's truly the only reason we heard she's running for office. She is going to support the governor's initiatives and that's it. that's not what the Council is about.
Hollingworth says she believes Morse is beholden to special interests.
T.20
12:57 he took money from the tobacco industry and was the deciding vote on smoking in public places...under Senate Bill 110 he accepted money from those same insurance companies that were trying to push SB 110.
Hollingworth and Morse each have about 50 thousand dollars to put out their respective messages before election night.
Where they focus those resources in a district that stretches from the Massachusetts border to the Ocean to Maine could go a long way to determining who wins the race.
Each candidate's backyard offers a strong base of support.
Hollingworth is expecting a good showing in her hometown of Hampton along with Portsmouth and Durham.
Morse is counting on a strong turnout in his hometown Salem as well as Atkinson, Hampstead and Plaistow.
The battle will be fought in the middle of the district in places like Exeter and Kingston.
Political Science Professor Dante Scala says what hangs in the balance is who will be the state's next judges and agency heads.
10:11 the power of appointment is important. Who the AG is, or who a Commissioner is for Environental Protection...it's important in an indirect way for how state government functions and who the governor's administration look like.
Over the next two years the Commissioner for the state's largest agency, Health and Human Services, will come up.
HHS has the single largest budget in the state.
In the past Governor Lynch hasn't had much trouble with his nominees.
But with one more Democrat on the Council, his job might get even easier.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
