Democrats Retain State Senate Majority

Going into the election many observers predicted little change in the 14 to 10 Democratic majority.

That turned out to be pretty accurate. Incumbents Jackie Cilley, Betsy DeVries and Kathy Sgambati fended off Republican challenges.

Earlier this year Democrats boasted about taking all the seats north of Manchester. That didn't happen.

Republican Bob Odell, whose district includes Claremont and New London, defeated Representative Jay Phinizy pretty handily. And as of press time, Republicans had the advantage in the Carroll County District 3 race, and Senator John Gallus had a solid lead in the North Country.

In all, 13 of the 24 state senators are women, and the state Democratic Party says it's the first time in US history that a legislative body has a female majority.

For NHPR News, I'm Dan Gorenstein.