An Executive Council race in the Manchester area turned out to be one of the state's closest primary races. According to the initial returns, Bob Burns eked out a slim victory over former state senator Tom Deblois and Manchester businessman Chuck Rolecek.
Burns, the Hillsborough County Treasurer, courted conservative and Tea Party voters in the district.
All three candidates garnered at least a third of all votes cast, with Burns edging out out Deblois by just 99 votes.
With such close results, the returns are slated for an automatic recount. But Burns doesn't anticipate a change in the final outcome:
"We've never seen here in New Hampshire, that I'm aware of, where you've had a huge discrepancy in the vote counts, so it's very unlikely that you'll see a different winner come out of the election at this point."
If he wins, Burns will face Democrat Chris Pappas in November.