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2016 New Hampshire gubernatorial election


The 2016 New Hampshire gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the governor of New Hampshire, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

The primaries were held on September 13.

Incumbent Democratic governor Maggie Hassan was eligible to run for re-election to a third term in office, but she instead successfully ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Kelly Ayotte. In the general election, Republican nominee Chris Sununu defeated Democrat Colin Van Ostern and Libertarian state representative Max Abramson to become the first Republican governor of New Hampshire elected since 2002. With a margin of 2.27%, this election was the second-closest race of the 2016 gubernatorial election cycle, behind only the election in North Carolina.

Governor Maggie Hassan, the incumbent from the Democratic Party, declined to run for reelection, choosing to seek a U.S. Senate seat instead. Both major parties had multiple declared candidates, leading to primary elections that were held September 13, 2016.

New Hampshire and Vermont are the only states in the country whose governors are elected every two years.

  • Mark Connolly, former New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State

  • Derek Dextraze

  • Ian Freeman, radio host

  • Steve Marchand, former mayor of Portsmouth

  • Colin Van Ostern, Executive Councilor

  • Jackie Cilley, state representative, former state senator and candidate for governor in 2012

  • Dan Feltes, state senator

  • Maggie Hassan, incumbent governor (running for U.S. Senate)

  • Andrew Hosmer, state senator

  • Ann McLane Kuster, U.S. representative (running for re-election)

  • Shawn O'Connor, businessman (running for NH-01)

  • Chris Pappas, Executive Councilor

  • Stefany Shaheen, Portsmouth City Councilor and daughter of U.S. senator Jeanne Shaheen

  • Carol Shea-Porter, former U.S. representative (running for NH-01)

  • Donna Soucy, state senator

  • Mike Vlacich, campaign manager for Senator Shaheen

Results by county: Van Ostern .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}  Van Ostern—60–70%   Van Ostern—50–60%   Van Ostern—40–50%   Van Ostern—30–40%

PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic37,69651.99
Democratic18,33825.29
Democratic14,84020.47
Democratic1,0691.47
Democratic5570.77
72,500100.00
  • Frank Edelblut, state representative

  • Jeanie Forrester, state senator

  • Ted Gatsas, Mayor of Manchester

  • John Lavoie

  • Chris Sununu, Executive Councilor, son of former governor John H. Sununu and brother of former U.S. senator John E. Sununu

  • Jeb Bradley, Majority Leader of the State Senate and former U.S. representative

  • Walt Havenstein, businessman and nominee for governor in 2014

  • Donnalee Lozeau, Mayor of Nashua

  • Chuck Morse, president of the State Senate

  • Andy Sanborn, state senator

Results by county: Sununu   Sununu—30–40%   Sununu—<30% Edelblut   Edelblut—30–40%   Edelblut—40–50% Forrester   Forrester—30–40%   Forrester—40–50%

PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican34,13730.68
Republican33,14929.79
Republican22,84020.53
Republican19,71617.72
Republican1,4291.28
111,271100.00
  • Max Abramson, state representative

  • Mike Gill, businessman

  • Jilletta Jarvis, training project manager

  • Complete video of debate, October 26, 2016 - C-SPAN

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political ReportTossupAugust 12, 2016
Daily KosTossupNovember 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political ReportTossupNovember 3, 2016
Sabato's Crystal BallLean DNovember 7, 2016
Real Clear PoliticsTossupNovember 1, 2016
GoverningTossupOctober 27, 2016

Aggregate polls

Source of pollaggregationDatesadministeredDatesupdatedColinVan Ostern (D)ChrisSununu (R)Other/UndecidedMargin
Real Clear PoliticsOctober 28 – November 6, 2016November 6, 201643.2%44.4%12.4%Sununu +1.2%
Poll sourceDate(s)administeredSamplesizeMargin oferrorColinVan Ostern (D)ChrisSununu (R)OtherUndecided
SurveyMonkeyNovember 1–7, 2016696± 4.6%55%42%3%
WMUR/UNHNovember 3–6, 2016707± 3.7%48%37%2%13%
SurveyMonkeyOct 31–Nov 6, 2016672± 4.6%56%41%3%
WMUR/UNHNovember 2–5, 2016645± 3.7%47%38%3%12%
WMUR/UNHNovember 1–4, 2016588± 3.7%47%37%2%14%
WMUR/UNHOct 31–Nov 3, 2016515± 3.7%47%37%2%14%
SurveyMonkeyOct 28–Nov 3, 2016672± 4.6%54%42%4%
Suffolk UniversityOct 31–Nov 2, 2016500± 4.4%37%41%6%15%
American Research GroupOct 31–Nov 2, 2016600± 4.0%44%48%2%6%
WMUR/UNHOct 30–Nov 2, 2016466± 3.7%46%38%2%14%
WBUR/MassINCOct 29–Nov 1, 2016500 LV± 4.4%44%49%1%5%
43%45%<1%10%
UMass Lowell/7NewsOct 28–Nov 2, 2016695 LV± 4.3%43%47%5%4%
901 RV± 3.8%41%45%5%8%
SurveyMonkeyOct 27–Nov 2, 2016658± 4.6%54%42%4%
Public Policy PollingOct 31–Nov 1, 2016781± 3.5%47%44%9%
WMUR/UNHOct 29–Nov 1, 2016468± 3.7%43%40%3%14%
WBUR/MassINCOct 29–Nov 1, 2016500± 4.4%44%49%1%5%
43%45%10%
SurveyMonkeyOct 26–Nov 1, 2016635± 4.6%53%43%4%
WMUR/UNHOctober 28–31, 2016513± 3.7%44%40%2%14%
SurveyMonkeyOctober 25–31, 2016659± 4.6%53%43%4%
WMUR/UNHOctober 27–30, 2016463± 3.7%43%40%2%14%
WMUR/UNHOctober 26–30, 2016641± 3.9%43%40%2%14%
WMUR/UNHOctober 26–29, 2016516± 3.7%42%41%5%12%
NH JournalOctober 26–28, 2016408± 4.2%42%45%2%11%
Monmouth UniversityOctober 22–25, 2016401± 4.9%48%43%4%5%
NBC/WSJ/MaristOctober 20–24, 2016768 LV± 3.5%47%46%2%4%
1,020 RV± 3.1%47%46%2%5%
UMass Amherst/WBZOctober 17–21, 2016772± 4.5%44%43%6%7%
42%39%5%14%
WMUR/UNHOctober 11–17, 2016770± 3.5%44%38%4%15%
Washington Post/SurveyMonkeyOctober 8–16, 2016569± 0.5%53%43%4%
WBUR/MassINCOctober 10–12, 2016501± 4.4%47%44%2%8%
41%41%2%15%
7News/UMass LowellOctober 7–11, 2016517± 4.9%39%41%6%13%
Suffolk UniversityOctober 3–5, 2016500± 4.4%36%40%2%20%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner - Save the Children Action NetworkSept 29–Oct 4, 2016500± 4.3%44%44%6%6%
WBUR/MassINCSeptember 27–29, 2016502± 4.4%44%47%2%7%
41%44%2%11%
American Research GroupSeptember 20–25, 2016522± 4.2%44%45%1%10%
Monmouth UniversitySeptember 17–20, 2016400± 4.9%43%49%1%7%
Public Policy PollingJanuary 4–6, 20161,036± 3.0%35%39%26%
Public Policy PollingNovember 30–December 2, 2015990± 3.1%34%40%25%
Public Policy PollingOctober 16–18, 2015880± 3.3%34%41%25%
Public Policy PollingAugust 21–24, 2015841± 3.4%32%39%29%
WMUR/UNHJuly 7–20, 2015472± 4.5%26%36%37%
Public Policy PollingApril 9–13, 2015747± 3.6%34%37%29%
PartyCandidateVotes%.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}±%
Republican354,04048.84%+1.41%
Democratic337,58946.57%−5.81%
Libertarian31,2434.31%N/A
Write-in1,9910.28%+0.09%
724,863100.00%N/A
Republican gain from Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

  • Carroll (largest city: Conway)
  • Coös (largest city: Berlin)
  • Sullivan (largest city: Claremont)

Sununu won one of the two congressional districts, which elected a Democrat.

DistrictSununuVan OsternRepresentative
50%45%Carol Shea-Porter
47%48%Annie Kuster
  • Chris Sununu (R) for Governor
  • Colin Van Ostern (D) for Governor
  • Max Abramson (L) for Governor
  • Jilletta Jarvis (I) for Governor
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