Long-time progressive activist and sometime Concord City Councilor Zandra Rice Hawkins has been unseated. After Tuesday’s elections, the three-term incumbent is one of only two incumbents in Concord replaced by challengers.
She lost to Jeff Foote, 618-566 (“preliminary” citywide results can be viewed here).
I’m unfamiliar enough with Concord to know what a good turnout looks like, but the 2022 mid-terms attracted over 18,000 voters. The November 2023 city race for mayor attracted 6,720. We could say it was a typical municipal election. One where turnout is low, so turnout is everything, like the race for mayor in Manchester. Hawkins didn’t turn out her Ward 10 city Councilor voters, or something made them stay home.
That seems odd to me. Dems are typically much better at getting their base to show up than their Republican opponents, especially in cities that run blue.
Congrats Jeff Foote on your win for Concord Ward 10 City Councilor over Zandra Rice Hawkins @progressnh #nhpolitics #nhlibertyhttps://t.co/a1aN7YZXjb
— NHLA (@nhliberty) November 8, 2023
Some folks suggest that Republican wins in places like Manchester are a sign. The disaffection among center-left voters over Biden has trickled down to local races and will lift a tide in 2024.
We saw that in 2010 and again in 2016. I would love that to be the case, but presidential election years are different than stand-alone municipal races. They are different from mid-term elections. And we’ve got a lot of loopholes in the electoral process that remain wide open without the legislative capacity or will to fix.
Zandra will be working full-time to ensure any advantage.
What are we prepared to do?
