Democrats Gain Control in NH House

By on November 8, 2012 in

Bill o'Brien's reign of terror will come to an end.  According to Concord Patch, Democrats have regained a majority in the House.  The NH Senate looks to be 13-11 in favor of Republicans, but still a massive victory.

 

Sanity restored!


About Chris Blodgett

Born and raised in New Hampshire. Graduated from Bow High School in 2003 and went on to graduate Cum Laude from Southern New Hampshire University with a BA in US History.
View all posts by Chris Blodgett →
  • TimothyHorrigan

    It was also a reign of error.

    One of the biggest errors was the Redress of Grievances Committee.  If for some reason it continues to exist, I am technically the first Democrat in line to become the chair.  Rep, Keans, Rep. Daler, and Rep. DeLoge sadly lost their re-election bids; Rep. Lindsay retired— and, oops, I forgot about Rep. Garrity who was appointed but never showed up for any hearings.  (His reaction turned out to be a very sensible one indeed.)  That leaves only me.

    There are actually a few petitions which have been filed already for 2013.  But that doesn’t mean the next Speaker has to keep the committee going.

  • Rep. Jim Splaine

    I feel especially happy for those returning Democrats who have had to put up with so much during these past two years, who the next two years can smile again.

    They stand a good chance to undo some of the harm, and do good deeds again.  

    And especially for Terie Norelli, who I held a sign next to this past Tuesday at one of the Portsmouth wards.  She so much wanted to see a change — in fact, she told me her estimate was that the Democrats would bottom out with at least 175 members and top out around 215.  She was a great Speaker, and can be so again.

  • FrankLloydMike

    It looks like Republicans will retain control of the Senate, 13-11, though a recount in District 9 could even it at 12-12 and a possible recount in District 16 could swing it to the Democrats 13-11.

    But it should be noted that, by my math (someone please double check this), a comfortable majority of New Hampshire voters voted for Democratic candidates in the Senate. By my math, 325,046 (about 53.4%) people voted for Democrats, while 280,070 (about 46.0%) voted for Republicans. And that’s including 18,644 votes for Peter Bragdon, who ran unopposed.

    Due to the Republican gerrymandering, many more Democrats were elected by wide majorities of upwards of 60% than were Republicans. Without gerrymandering, it’s likely that Democrats would hold 13 of 24 seats, or about 54% of the body. If both recounts go our way, they could. But assuming they do not, Republican senators should keep in mind that while they won more seats, they lost more votes. I hope they govern that chamber with some humility.

  • Lucy Weber

    House Dems hold 222 seats.

    Notes from Cheshire County:  Cheshire went from being the only county with a Democratic majority in 2011, at 14D-10R–Strafford joined us after a special election flipped its numbers–to a whopping 20D-3R.  Reps Hunt,Emerson and Johnson are the only Rs remaining.  Of those three only Rep Johnson won a contested primary.  Every other Cheshire County Republican lost his/her seat.  (Along with most of the architects of the redistricting plan.)

    And Steve Vaillancourt notes in his blog that Ovide Lamontaigne lost Cheshire County by 30.2 points.

    I love being from Cheshire.

    Just one other point.  I cannot say how impressed I am with how hard the House candidates campaigned for this election.  My hat is off to all of them, along with the huge numbers of supporters, grassroots activists, OFA volunteers and others who worked their asses up and down the ticket.  People power works.

    • Lucy Weber

      (Posting While Tired)

      That last sentence should read “…worked their asses off …”

    • hannah

      by representatives who are still stuck in the “in loco parentis” mode. They imagine that election gives them the authority of paternity, without doing any work.

  • TimothyHorrigan

    For the past two years, whenever Paul Mirski addressed the House, I would mutter, “It’s the greatest of all Constitutional scholars.”  He turned every speech. on whatever subject, into a lugubrious rumination on the Founding Fathers an the Constitution.

    When the slightly less lugubrious Dan Itse addressed the House, I would mutter, “It’s the second greatest of all Constitutional scholars.”  I don’t know whether I should move Rep. Itse up to first place after the people of Enfield voted in Mirski’s opponent, while the people of Fremont returned Itse to office by a narrow margin.