New Hampshire Massacre

The Republicans in New Hampshire suffered the worst of any state party in 2006, and since in the last post I mentioned it, I thought I would describe what happened in more detail--

Governor: In 2004 John Lynch narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Craig Benson by a margin of 51.07 to 48.93. Here is the result in 2006:

John Lynch (D) 298,677 (74.13%)
Jim Coburn (R) 104,223 (25.87%)

State House--

2004: 252 Republicans, 148 Democrats
2006: 234 Democrats (+86), 156 Republicans (-96), 10 Independents (+10)

The victories by 10 independents tell me that the voters of New Hampshire decided to send the GOP there a message that they would never forget, voting out anyone and everyone they could who had the scarlet letter R beside their name on the ballot. Even if there was no Democrat on the ballot they decided that they were going to elect an independent rather than a Republican.

State Senate--

2004: 16 Republicans, 8 Democrats
2006: 13 Democrats (+5), 11 Republicans (-5)

1st congressional district--

2004: Jeb Bradley (R) 63.40, Justin Nadeau (R) 36.60
2006: Carol Shea-Porter (D) 51.39, Jeb Bradley (R) 48.61

2nd congressional district--

2004: Charles Bass (R) 58.52, Paul Hodes (D) 38.04
2006: Paul Hodes (D) 52.63, Charles Bass (R) 45.54

This is what happens when the people of a state get so angry that they decide to punish anyone and everyone wearing a certain party label in an election. The Democrats also seized a majority on the powerful Executive Council, going from a 4 to 1 Republican majority to a 3 to 2 Democratic Majority.