SOURCE:
WASHINGTON EXAMINERURL:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/hassan-declares-victory-in-nh-but-ayotte-doesnt-concede/article/2607007by: Gabby Morrongiellio
New Hampshire's secretary of state certified results Wednesday showing two-term Gov. Maggie Hassan defeating first-term Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte. But the incumbent isn't conceding and could still request a recount.
The news comes less than a week after Hassan and Ayotte traded barbs in their sixth and final Senate debate, during which both women repeatedly sought to hang Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton around each other's necks.
"I have said repeatedly that [Hillary Clinton's] use of emails was a mistake," Hassan said in the debate last Wednesday. "She has said so as well. She has apologized. I think that's appropriate."
Hassan's victory marks the first time in more than three decades that both New Hampshire Senate seats will be occupied by Democrats. Thomas McIntyre and John Durkin, both deceased, were the last two Democratic senators from the Granite State to serve in Washington simultaneously.
Hassan delivered her victory speech in front of supporters Tuesday evening at her campaign's Manchester headquarters.
The popular Democratic governor first entered politics at the turn of the millennium when she joined the Advisory Committee to the Adequacy in Education and Finance Commission at the request of then-New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who now serves in the Senate. Hassan joined the committee to fight for Granite Staters like her son, Ben, who suffers from cerebral palsy.
She went on to serve three terms in the New Hampshire State Senate before becoming Majority Leader in 2008, and held a steady job approval rating throughout her first term as governor.
"We've come a long way since the recession," Hassan told constituents at an event in August, where she touted her record and experiences as governor. "Unemployment is at 2.9 percent, among the lowest in the nation [and] New Hampshire is setting a strong example for elected officials when it comes to bridging the political divide."
Still, Hassan's second term in the governor's mansion was not as easy as her first.
Confronted by an opioid crisis that has devastated families and communities across the Granite State, Hassan named a "drug czar" in February 2015 to tackle the problem. Less than a year later, her appointee resigned under pressure after Republicans and local medical professionals complained about his absence from, and disinterest in the job. Hassan's handling of the heroin epidemic became a major line of attack for Republicans seeking to boost Ayotte in her heated Senate race.
"Maggie Hassan mismanaged the heroin crisis and New Hampshire is paying the price," charged the National Republican Senatorial Committee in an ad released three months before Election Day.
Hassan's lack of foreign policy experience, especially in contrast with Ayotte, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also frequently dogged her campaign when it was put on display during interviews with reporters or in debates against her Republican opponent.
Perhaps the biggest issue Hassan overcame to win her race against Ayotte was her seemingly blind support of Clinton. Hassan frequently joined the former secretary of state on the campaign trail in New Hampshire and came under intense criticism earlier this summer after thrice declining to say whether she considered Clinton to be honest and trustworthy.
But while Hassan has been a steadfast support of Clinton's education policies, particularly her desire to make college debt-free, there are some areas in which she split from President Obama and the Democratic presidential hopeful. While Obama has made closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay a priority before his time in office comes to an end, a plan Clinton supports, Hassan has expressed skepticism about the proposal.
For the most part, Hassan has promised to champion a progressive agenda in the Senate that includes opposing legislation that would privatize Social Security, expanding middle-class tax credits and raising taxes on wealthy Americans, enacting further restrictions on gun ownership and firearm purchases, increasing the federal minimum wage to $12 and maintaining federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Hassan's benefited from pro-Democratic outside groups who spent more than $18 million in 2016 to boost her campaign and put pressure on Ayotte. Among the biggest spenders were the Senate Majority PAC, which has ties to outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Majority Forward, a dark money issues advocacy group.
