UPDATED AND BUMPED: Per usual, we still have precincts that have not yet presented results. I am surprised, however, that the number is as low as it is. Not many differences from my last update from early this morning but at least a few more races have been decided. There are some surprises and personal observations from these final amounts (time to move onto other things, I am):
- The Feltes / Selfish Socialist Volinsky race tightened overnight (a bit, but it did). I wonder about the “unity” as Feltes declared himself the winner while S.S. Volinsky was visibly steaming on WMUR last night. I’ll go there – will more “totes of votes” mysteriously show up as they seem to happen in D vs R races (a box here, a box there…)?
- I was hoping that Karen would get at least a full 10% – that 2 digit amount would have been a validating protest vote. Between 10-15% would have been a real serious result. Close to or over 20% would have been an “Oh Crap!!!” moment for Sununu as in “How am I gonna get the conservative base back for the General Election?”. Not to be…
- Given the amount of money that Corky spent I’m surprised that the margin between him and The General wasn’t wider. While 8 points is nothing to sneer at at all, I would have expected more.
- And Andy Martin proved, once again, that he IS the most experienced campaigner (as he keeps claiming) of all of the campaigners – just not in the way he keeps thinking. You’d have thought that after running so many times, he would have broken 5% of the vote. Once again, a #FAIL at #FAILING.
- Gerard Beloin didn’t represent the Libertarian Party all that well. I went to his website and, true to form, there was much complaining about his court cases than on issues. Sad to say, but once again the NH LP has proven that they can’t campaign all that well under their own banner. As much as I have small “L” libertarian leanings with good messages that should resonate, they can’t package themselves well at all.
- Mowers had the money and his results showed it. However, can he rally The General’s base to his cause because he probably isn’t going to have the money to go up after Pappas. How well can he switch to The General model (or going back a few years on the Democrat side, the successful model of grassroots that Carol Shea-Porter used to beat Jeb Bradley where he had all the money and she had all the boots on the ground).
- Will Negron be able to “cash up” against a well-padded Annie The Socialist fast enough?
- I know that Eli Clemmer dropped out to support Steve in the race – thus a low number of votes. BUT WHERE THE HECK did this still unknown, Matt Bjelobrk, get almost 7% of the vote? No campaigning, no website, no FB presence….huh?
- Joe Kenney had a massive thumping of Kim Strathdee in Exec. Council D 1. Started fast and never looked back – almost a 60 point difference at the end. Let’s see what happens in the General.
- Looks like even with “downshifting” a political weight class, Levenson can’t catch a break. I would have thought his previous Federal office run would have given him the name recognition to do better.
- Janet Stevens rode whatever coattails Sunnunu had. I’m also surprised at the low vote total that Tim Comerford got – several Groksters thought much of him and personally endorsed him.
- And THE MOST CONTENTIOUS race in the cycle on the GOP side (worse than Feltes / Volinsky by far was Wheeler vs Clegg where the former beat the latter by over 25 points. If the back and forth on social media and on GraniteGrok itself (first time things have gotten this acrimonious on the ‘Grok EVAH!). I’ve tried to craft a Free Speech environment and no one went disgusting (although I did warn both side a couple of times to not go into the sewer pipes) and all but I’m hesitant to think of the fallout between some of the Groksters.For all of the politicalese talk of “Unity”, let’s be clear – there ain’t none and hard feeling take a lot of time to heal – if they do at all. Some won’t. I’ll be watching our pages a bit more intently for a while.
- I figured that Bob Guida was going to win but a 61 point difference was a thumping!
And that, folks, is all I’m doing on this – thanks for visiting!
**********************
As I have done in the past, I’m going to try to aggregate incoming results and keep this as up to date as I can. For instance, with 2.33% of precincts reporting in, Corky Messner holds a 51% to 41% lead over Don Bolduc. I can’t believe that Andy Martin has 1/10 of the other two at 119 votes – who knew? But I’ll use the word Martin keeps using about himself – experienced. So my try will be “as he has experienced in the past, he will again gain even more experience as a loser in electoral races”.
Sidenote: how are those I or GraniteGrok endorsed doing?
- Belknap District 2 (Gilford, Meridith) – Harry Bean (1,670), Glen Aldrich (1,627), and Norm Silber (1,356). Top 3 of 4 possible seats.
- NH State Senate District 2 – Bob Guida – Winner
- NH Governor – Karen Testerman – lost to incumbent Chris Sununu
- NH US Congress CD -2 – Steve Negron – Winner over Blakenbeker a second time.
Expect repeated updates throughout the night.
Governor Race: 83.39% Precincts reporting
GOP
Chris Sununu 89.82% Winner
Karen Testerman 9.33%
Democrat
Dan Feltes 51.63%
Andru Volinsky 48.37%
US Senate Race: 94.02% Precincts reporting
GOP
Corky Messner 50.64% WINNER
Don Bolduc 42.35%
Andy Martin 4.69%
Gerard Beloin 2.32%
NH CD-1 Race: 95.61% Precincts reporting
GOP
Matt Mowers 59.71% WINNER
Matt Mayberry 26.35%
Kevin Rondeau 6.06%
Jeff Denaro 3.95%
Michael Callis 3.94%
NH CD-2 Race: 80.75% Precincts reporting
GOP
Steve Negron 46.8% WINNER as Lynne Blankenbeker concedes
Lynne Blankenbeker 39.8%
Matt Bjelobrk 7.09%
Eli Clemmer 6.31%
NH Executive Council – District 1 92.24% Precincts reporting
Joe Kenney 78.96% WINNER
Kim Strathdee 21.04%
NH Executive Council – District 2 91.03% Precincts reporting
Jim Beard 53.23%
Stewart Levenson 46.77%
NH Executive Council – District 3 100% Precincts reporting
Janet Stevens 39.95%
Bruce Crochetiere 31.93%
Tim Comerford 28.12%
NH Executive Council – District 5 75.61% Precincts Reporting
Dave Wheeler 62.89% WINNER
Bob Clegg 37.11%
NH State Senate – District 1 89.74% Precincts Reporting
Erin Hennessey 70.18% WINNER
David Starr 31.1%
NH State Senate – District 2 77.78% Precincts Reporting
Bob Guida 80.53% WINNER
Dave DeVoy 19.47%
NH State Senate – District 17 81.82% Precincts Reporting
John Reagan 81.83% WINNER
Janet DelFuoco 18.17%
NH State Senate – District 18 100% Precincts Reporting
George Lambert 57.95% WINNER
Ross Terrio 42.05%
NH State Senate – District 20 100% Precincts Reporting
Carla Gericke 51.78% WINNER
Jack Kenney 48.22%
NH State Senate – District 23 100% Precincts Reporting
Bill Gannon 73.31% WINNER
Allen Cook 26.69%
NH State Senate – District 24 100% Precincts Reporting
Lou Gargiulo 71.61% WINNER
Regina Barnes 28.39%