After long campaign, New Hampshire voters heading to polls Tuesday

Nov. 8—After months of campaigning and millions spent on political advertising, candidates running for governor, Congress, the N.H. Executive Council, the state Legislature and county offices learn their fate Tuesday as voters across New Hampshire and around the nation go to the polls.

Local polling places and hours, sample ballots, candidates' responses to questionnaires and articles about the races can be found at The Sentinel's election page, www.sentinelsource.com/vote.

Turnout across the Granite State is expected to set a new record for a midterm election, according to N.H. Secretary of State Dave Scanlan.

"We have several hotly contested races at the top of the ballot, and this is generating a lot of enthusiasm among voters to participate in the election," Scanlan said.

He predicts 591,000 people will cast ballots. The state has 883,035 registered voters. New Hampshire offers election-day voter registration.

At the top of the ticket is popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, 47, of Newfields vs. Tom Sherman, 64, a Democratic state senator and medical doctor from Rye.

Like many Democrats, Sherman has made reproductive rights a campaign centerpiece, taking Sununu to task for signing legislation last year that bans most abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy. New Hampshire is one of more than 40 states with restrictions on the procedure.

The three-term governor says New Hampshire has performed well under his watch, with a strong economy and modest population growth.

He says he supports reproductive rights and worked to make New Hampshire's abortion ban less restrictive after Republican lawmakers dropped it on his desk in a budget trailer bill he felt he had to sign to keep the state running.

Seeking her second term in the U.S. Senate is Maggie Hassan, 64, a Democrat from Newfields and a former New Hampshire governor who has been campaigning on her ability to work across the aisle in polarized Washington. She touts a bipartisan bill she co-sponsored that is aimed at preventing surprise medical bills, which President Joe Biden signed last year.

Standing in her way is retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, 60, of Stratham, who denied the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election while campaigning for the Republican primary before reversing that view ahead of the state's general election. He casts himself as a political outsider who would reduce government spending.

The Monadnock Region is in New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District, which is represented by U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, 66, a Hopkinton attorney who is seeking her sixth term.

Her Republican challenger, Robert Burns, 44, of Pembroke, has a pharmaceutical quality-control company in Bedford. He considers himself a fiscal conservative, and, like many Republican candidates, blames high inflation on Democratic spending. Kuster, meanwhile, says record profit-taking by oil companies contributes to high prices, and she defends trillions of dollars in federal spending as necessary to prevent economic collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, voters will also be casting ballots for candidates for the N.H. Executive Council, a five-member panel that shares executive authority with the governor.

Councilor Cinde Warmington, 64, a Concord health care attorney, is seeking her second term in District 2, which includes much of the Monadnock Region. As the only Democrat currently on the council, she has consistently found herself on the losing side of votes to fund a sexual education program for at-risk youth and to provide state money for family planning organizations. These include Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, which has an office in Keene.

Running against her is state Sen. Harold French, 65, of Canterbury, a Republican. French, an auctioneer, says he fears that Planned Parenthood, if given state money, would spend it on abortion services even though such spending would be illegal and a state audit showed the organization has not done this, directly or indirectly.

Warmington says the warming of the climate poses enormous threats to the state and is in favor of utilizing available federal funds to address the issue. French says he likes the idea of bringing more solar power to the state, but would have to closely examine any potential strings attached to federal money for this purpose.

Another race many local voters will see on their ballots features N.H. Rep. Donovan Fenton, 33, an automobile-dealer executive from Keene, and Swanzey Selectman Sylvester "Sly" Karasinski, 58, who is superintendent of the North Swanzey Water & Fire Precinct. They are vying to succeed state Sen. Jay Kahn, D-Keene, in Senate District 10, which takes in almost all of Cheshire County.

Fenton, a Democrat, says his goal is to reduce property taxes by having the state pay more of the governmental costs that have been pushed down to municipalities over the years, while Karasinski, a Republican, campaigned on the need to keep a tight rein on government spending.

Karasinski wants to make sure the state never adopts a general sales tax or an income tax and that it continues with its phase-out of the interest and dividends tax, which he said hits the elderly particularly hard.

Fenton, who has a young family, said he would work hard to find ways to reduce the cost and improve the availability of child care in New Hampshire.

The N.H. House, which has 400 members, has nearly two dozen representatives in Cheshire County.

Local House districts there, as well as in Sullivan and Hillsborough counties, feature a host of races Tuesday. Voters across the state will also be weighing in on county posts such as sheriff, treasurer, commissioners and county attorney.

Rick Green can be reached at rgreen@keenesentinel.com or 603-355-8567.