Politics

An Executive Council race in the Manchester area turned out to be one of the state's closest primary races.

Jackie Cilley concedes the Democratic gubernatorial race to Maggie Hassan, and says the primary debate was worth it for the party.

Both Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith came into the race with strong conservative credentials. But Smith couldn’t overcome the name recognition and money of the front-runner.

At the night’s campaign headquarters in Concord, Bettie Lamontagne introduced her husband to a crowd of raucous supporters.

"Please welcome the love of my life, my best friend, and the person we all believe should be the next governor of the great state of New Hampshire, Ovide Lamontagne..."

A handful of state senate races proved competitive in Tuesday’s primary.

It’s difficult to see a trend in the statewide legislative results says political analyst Dean Spiliotis.

There clearly are some races in which the tea party energy and conservatives seem to be winning out, but there also a number of races that we’re seeing in which more moderate incumbents are staying in through the primary.

Colin Van Ostern won the Democratic nomination for the District 2 chair on the Executive Council.  The district includes the Concord area, and stretches from Vermont to the coast.
 
He beat opponent John Shea, who held a seat on the Council from 2006 to 2010.

Van Ostern says the Council’s decision last June to cut funding to Planned Parenthood spurred him to run.  But he made his campaign about the economy.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of last night was not that Democrat Jackie Cilley lost to her rival Maggie, Hassan, but by how big a margin. What was supposed to be a close race turned out to be a run-away.

This primary season the question has been: will democrats elect a candidate who hasn’t pledged to veto an income or sales tax? From the outset, Cilley has made not taking such a pledge the centerpiece of her campaign.

But with the very first poll returns it was clear that Cilley was in for a rough night. Later she took the podium to concede the race.