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N.H. election day results 2021: 7 mayors win re-election; Nashua backs sports book gambling; Portsmouth rejects KENO

Voters in Portsmouth, N.H. on Nov. 2, 2021
Dan Tuohy
/
NHPR
Voters in Portsmouth, N.H. in Nov. 2, 2021

Manchester Mayor Craig wins re-election

Mayor Joyce Craig won a third term Tuesday, defeating Victoria Sullivan by 649 votes. Here's the complete Manchester city election results from City Clerk Matt Normand.

Hilliard wins re-election in Somersworth

Incumbent Somersworth Mayor Dana Hilliard held off two challengers Tuesday. Hilliard won with 886 votes. Crystal Paradis and Ken Hilton had 641 and 623 votes, respectively. Unofficial Somersworth election results.

McEachern top vote-getter in Portsmouth council race

Deaglan McEachern is Portsmouth mayor-elect, having won the most votes in the Portsmouth city council race.

Incumbent Mayor Rick Becksted lost re-election to the nine-seat board.

Businesswoman Joanna "Jo" Kelley will be the incoming assistant mayor in Portsmouth, based on the city's unofficial results. The other seven council winners: John Tabor, Josh Denton, Beth Moreau, Andrew Bagley, Vincent Lombardi, Rich Blalock, and Kate Cook.

Portsmouth voters narrowly rejected — for the second election — a ballot question asking if the city should allow KENO 603 games at restaurants and establishments. The vote on question 1 was 2,770 to 2,649.

Concord Mayor wins re-election

Concord Mayor Jim Bouley cruised to re-election Tuesday, defeating challenger Taylor Hall 2,786 to 783, according to Concord's election results. Amanda Grady Sexton and Fred B. Keach were both re-elected to councilor at-large seats on the Concord City Council. (An earlier version of this post misreported the Concord City Council results.)

Dover mayor wins re-election

Robert Carrier, running unopposed, won re-election as Dover's mayor. SeeDover's election results for city council, school board, and charter questions.

Nashua gives OK to sports book gambling operations

The unofficial Nashua city results are in, and voters in the Gateway City have decided to opt-in to allow sports book retail operations. The vote was 7,387 to 6,207.

Residents voted against a measure that would have allowed local officials to choose city police commissioners.

The city police commission oversees the Nashua Police Department's rules and budget. It also approves new hires and has the authority to remove officers from the force.

Nashua is the only city in the state where the governor and Executive Council appoint people to the commission.

Voters said no to a ballot question that asked if the mayor and Board of Aldermen should choose police commission members instead. The measure also would have expanded the commission from three to five members.

Shoshanna Kelly, Melborne Moran Jr., and Gloria Timmons came out of a seven-candidate field to win three alderman at-large seats. Neil Claffey, Heather Raymond, Regan Lamphier, and Christina Darling won seats on the Nashua Board of Education.

In Claremont, Dale Girard won the mayoral race in an uncontested bid, while Debora Matteau won assistant mayor. The seven-way race for four at-large seats on the Claremont city council was won by Nicholas Koloski, Lucas "Rocky" Beliveau, William Limoges, and Matthew Mooshian.

-Mary McIntyre and Dan Tuohy

Keene mayor wins re-election

The Keene Sentinel reports that Mayor George Hansel has easily won a second term. Hansel defeated Mark Zuchowski.

In Rochester, Paul Callaghan has won the mayoral race, with 65% of the overall vote. He defeated Palan Hunt-Hawkins and Cassi Borne. Matthew Beaulieu won the at-large seat on the school board. Check out the fullLilac City election results.

Craig declares victory in Manchester

Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig declared victory, with unofficial results showing the Democrat winning a third term.

Joyce Craig, a woman in a green jacket with an "I voted" sticker, looks to the right.
Gaby Lozada
/
New Hampshire Public Radio
Joyce Craig declared victory in Manchester on Election Night.

In a statement tonight, Craig said:

“Tonight is not about me. It’s about what we can achieve when we work together. It’s about recognizing what we can accomplish as a community when we focus on lifting up our residents and making our city a better place.

At the start of my second term as Mayor, we encountered a global pandemic, and addressed the challenges head on. We took decisive action — developing guidelines, increasing access to city services, and providing free testing and vaccinations — all to ensure the health and safety of our community.And through it all, we continued to move Manchester forward.

We prioritized public safety, made investments in affordable housing, returned our students safely to the classrooms, and fostered economic growth."

Hosmer wins re-election in Laconia

Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer defeated Dawn Johnson to win re-election. Results from the Lake City: Hosmer 2,146 to Johnson 790.

Scroll down for earlier updates to this election day liveblog

This year, many New Hampshire cities are voting on their leadership for the next term.

And in Portsmouth, Keno's on the ballot. Find our full recap of mayoral races across the state here.

Keep checking back here as we update you on the latest election results and analysis from our newsroom. And if you're headed to the polls and have a question, or there's something you want our newsroom to know, email us.


New Voters

Babikir Abdallah, who is originally from Sudan, was celebrating a big milestone with his citizenship teacher, Sue Corby, at his side. He recently became a citizen and was casting his first ballot ever, in any election. Corby works for Welcoming Manchester, which has been providing voting assistance in multiple languages, and sits on the Mayor’s Multicultural Advisory Council.

Babikir Abdallah, originally from Sudan, cast his first ballot in any election in Manchester, N.H., on Nov. 2, 2021. Sue Corby is on the right.
Casey McDermott
/
NHPR
Babikir Abdallah, originally from Sudan, cast his first ballot in any election in Manchester, N.H., on Nov. 2, 2021. Sue Corby is on the right.

Rematch in Manchester

The mayoral candidates in Manchester are hitting the polling places to help get out the vote today.

In a rematch of two years ago, incumbent Mayor Joyce Craig is facing off with Victoria Sullivan.

Craig says Manchester is making progress during a challenging time.

“We’ve gone through a difficult two years with COVID,” she said after voting. “We’ve made decisive action in terms of making sure our community is healthy and safe while at the same time we’ve made tremendous progress and I look forward to working with our community to continue that progress and move the city forward.”

Sullivan says people are telling her about the need for change.

“A lot of people have been thanking me for running which I think is really humbling because it takes all of us to fix this city and I’m looking forward to working with everybody to turn this city around.”

— Dan Tuohy

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