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In total, Democrats won 7 mayoral seats yesterday-in Keene, Concord, Portsmouth, Laconia, Claremont, Somersworth, and Berlin.
In Keene, incumbent Democrat Phillip Pregent won re-election unopposed. In addition, Democrats picked 3 seats on the city council, and now hold a commanding 12 to 3 majority.
In Concord, Democrat Jim Bouley was re-elected unopposed, and Democrats are now the majority on the City Council.
In Somersworth, Democrat Lincoln Soldati defeated incumbent Mayor Michael Micucci, and Democrats maintained their majority on the council.
And in Berlin, Democrat Paul Grenier defeated the incumbent Republican Mayor.
In contrast, Republicans were only able to hold on to the Mayor's seat in Manchester-and this after Ted Gatsas spent a record amount buying his way into City Hall. In fact, Gatsas outspent Democrat Mark Roy more than 5:1.
But what is also clear is that the people of Manchester trust Democrats to move the city forward, and not Republicans.
We won a record 13 of 14 seats on the Board of Mayor and Alderman, and another 11 of 14 on the school committee, giving us historic super-majorities in both bodies.
Across the state, Democrats won a total of 54 city council races, compared to only 25 for Republicans. We picked-up two chambers, in Nashua and Concord, and now hold 9 Boards of Aldermen or City Councils in New Hampshire out of 13, compared to only 2 for Republicans.
Overall, there are now 72 Democrats on Boards of Aldermen or City Council, compared to 36 Republicans and 27 Independents.
And all of this does not even include school board members and elected commissioners.
After last month's city elections in Franklin, Sununu was heralding the reelection of the Republican mayor as if he had won a congressional election. After Tuesday's results he is now insisting that all local elections except the mayor of Manchester are non-partisan and meaningless.
In no way is the NHDP claiming we were the reason for all these victories, but we believe they are significant because voters overwhelmingly voted for candidates who identify themselves as Democrats.
And although it passed in Manchester, Claremont was successful in defeating the tax cap by an overwhelming 2:1 margin.
So what does all of this mean? Well, Tuesday's results offer further evidence of the emerging permanent Democratic majority in the Granite State.
And the results were encouraging for a couple of reasons-first, many of our Democratic committees were integral to the success of our candidates, and second, our victories suggest the mood in New Hampshire is demonstrably different than Virginia and New Jersey. Generally speaking, Granite Staters are happy with their elected officials and incumbents-a reality which bodes well for our chances moving forward.
More importantly, if this trend continues, 2010 will be another banner year for New Hampshire Democrats.
But if you listen to John Sununu, you would think that yesterday's elections never really occurred.
What was Sununu's response to his party's losses across the state? That his non-existent victories sent a clear message that Republicans are poised for a so-called comeback.
If anything, yesterday's results only set the New Hampshire Republican Party back further-and one can safely proclaim that they actually are worse-off than on November 5th 2008, when they suffered their biggest losses in Granite State history.
Since Sununu became chair of the party, Republicans have only picked-up one seat, and that was the special election for state representative in Concord, which I will touch upon in a moment.
But let me be clear: John Sununu's obliviousness is not the only problem for New Hampshire Republicans.
As a matter of fact, they are on the brink of a full-scale Civil War between the establishment and right wing radicals that threaten to take over what is left of the out-of-touch Republican Party.
In yesterday's Union Leader, right winger and candidate for congress Jennifer Horn took one of the first shots, by stating "those who believe that 2010 will be a typical mid-term election year in which the minority party sweeps to victory are sadly disconnected from the voters."
This declaration flies in the face of John Sununu's claims of easy 2010 GOP victories, and illustrates how he is even more out of touch with the people of New Hampshire than the far fringe of his party.
No matter how Republicans try to spin their abysmal showing in Tuesday's elections, the numbers do not lie. Democrats, from Manchester to Keene to Portsmouth to Berlin, had an extremely successful day, and are building momentum as we head in to the 2010 elections.
Now back to the special election in Concord.
As you may know, the Republicans have been making a big deal about the fact that Jim MacKay narrowly lost-although we have asked for a recount.
First, you should know that Jim and the local party worked extremely hard to deliver this seat. They did mailings, phone calls, met with voters, and ran a great GOTV plan.
With that in mind, it is my belief that our close loss in Concord had to do with outside factors beyond our control, including: abysmal turnout due to a lack of competition in the city races; a sense by the voters that Jim was going to win in a landslide; and the fact that his opponent was able to tap into the radical wing of her base for support.
While we are disappointed in the results, it is impossible for us to take too much away from Jim's loss.
Out of 113 major races for Mayor and council yesterday, Republicans won an underwhelming 28-and that is if you include the special election, which, as I mentioned, is going to a recount.
We also need to push back at those who say that Jim's loss is a referendum on Governor Lynch and the Democratic legislature.
Over a dozen Democratic state representatives were successful in their bids for office yesterday-with only one loss that I am aware of.
On the Republican side, 3 state representatives all lost their bids for office in Manchester alone, while 5 Democratic legislators won-a reality which suggests the Republican's claims are nothing more than an attempt to divert attention away from their horrible losses everywhere else in New Hampshire.
The bottom line is that Republicans took a beating at the ballot box yesterday-and the reason is two fold: 1.) We are better organized and 2.) The people of New Hampshire continue to approve of the job Democrats are doing in office.
Although we still have our work cut out for us, I believe Tuesday was a good sign for our party. Despite Republican rumors to the contrary, the GOP has not picked-up steam under John H Sununu, and Democrats continue to be in a strong position. And if we work as hard as we can, Democrats will be even more successful in 2010. |
