NH House Dems pick up 1, GOP leads 202-198
Nov. 15—CONCORD — In a stunning momentum shift, a narrow Republican majority in the New Hampshire House of Representatives shrank as Democrats picked up one more seat in the first day of election recounts.
The flip cut the GOP edge in the House to 202-198, with 20 House recounts left to complete.
On Monday, Maxine Mosley, a retired school counselor, became a one-vote winner over state Rep. Larry Gagne, R-Manchester, for one of two House seats from Manchester Ward 6.
On Nov. 8, Gagne defeated Mosley by 23 votes.
After Monday's recount, the totals for Will Infantine, the top finisher, and Gagne dropped by 22 votes apiece.
The recount results stunned both candidates. Moments earlier, Mosley had congratulated Gagne on holding onto his House seat.
"I felt I owed it to my supporters to go through the process," Mosley had said.
Then Secretary of State David Scanlan announced the change, prompting state Democratic Party leaders and staff to hug Mosley in celebration.
"We went over the numbers several times just to make sure," Scanlan said. "Sometimes we do see this, the vote count dropping. It's why we have recounts."
Lawyers for the two candidates challenged eight ballots during the recount.
Gagne can appeal the recount and ask the Ballot Law Commission (BLC) to rule on whether it agrees with Scanlan's rulings on the challenged ballots.
Gagne said late Monday that he was not inclined to do that.
"It's God's will, that's my current thinking," Gagne said during a brief interview.
But during a telephone interview Monday night, Infantine said he believes a counting error occurred during the recount.
Gagne agrees with him that the matter should be appealed to the BLC, Infantine said.
"Clearly, there's something wrong here. We just don't magically both lose 22 votes like that," Infantine said.
Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley complimented state election officials and volunteers for a fair and thorough process.
"We are ecstatic to learn of Democratic candidate Maxine Mosley's win in Manchester Ward 6 following today's recount. With today being just the first day of several extremely tight races, we look forward to the remaining recounts," Buckley said.
This was the first house run for Mosley, who retired in 2021 after working in public schools for 43 years, 40 with the Manchester School District.
She was active with the Manchester Education Association and had campaigned in support of property tax relief and abortion rights.
"We all need to stop posturing about what our parties are and make a commitment to talk and collaborate. I have been, and will continue to be, open to listening to others, asking essential questions working hard to come to collective conclusions so we can improve the quality of life in New Hampshire for everyone who lives here," Mosley said in a statement during the campaign.
Gagne, 78, has served seven terms in the House and over the past two years was vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
A U.S. Navy veteran, he retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2006.
Gagne said he went to bed on Nov. 8 after learning he was ahead by 16 votes.
"I knew I was headed to this," Gagne said of the recount. "If it were me, I would have asked for one."
After counting the write-ins and other votes later the night of Nov. 8, Gagne's lead grew to 23.
"That's when I thought it just made sense to review all the ballots," Mosley recalled.
Other recounts
The parking lot at the State Archives Building in Concord Monday was filled as dozens of volunteers working for Scanlan went over the ballots in four state representative races.
In three of those four races, Democrats edged out Republicans for seats in Epping, Boscawen and Brentwood.
The Gagne-Mosley race was the fourth recount.
The results didn't change in the three other races that went to recount Monday.
First-term Rep. Cory Belanger, R-Epping, had challenged his seven-vote loss to Epping Democrat Mark Vallone.
During the recount, Vallone's total count dropped by two votes, but he still won by five.
"At the end of the day the only thing that matters is Epping is well represented," Belanger said.
Because of the Veterans Day holiday, losing candidates had an extra day, until Monday at 5 p.m., to ask for a recount.
On Monday, candidates in eight more House races requested a review, including those running for three seats in Nashua and one apiece in Merrimack and Bedford.
That brings the number of House recounts to 24.
Scanlan has scheduled House recounts every day through Saturday and the rest on Monday.
State election officials want to have the House elections settled by next week to give House leaders time to prepare for organization day on Dec. 7, when the House members elected last week meet for the first time.
Other recounts requested Monday included two state Senate elections and a close Hillsborough County register of deeds race, Scanlan said.
