Republicans In New Hampshire Retain, Win New County Seats

CONCORD, NH — While Democrats were able to help former Vice President Joe Biden win the state of New Hampshire and assisted three Democrats representing federal offices to hold their positions Tuesday by overwhelming margins, the down ticket rout by Republicans moved beyond the Statehouse and into county offices, too.

According to unofficial results complied and posted by the Secretary of State's Office Thursday, Republicans held, won, or appear to have won seats in the three counties served by Patch — including some lost during the 2018 Democrat sweep of the state.

For the open Hillsborough County Sheriff's seat, Republican Chris Connelly bested Bill Barry, a Democrat, by more than 10,000 votes out of about 212,000 votes cast.

County Attorney Michael Conlon, a Democrat who was elected in 2018, lost by about 9,500 votes to former attorney and Republican John Coughlin. Libertarian Nicholas Sarwark trailed far behind both major party candidates. Conlon came under fire early in his term for not working harder to ensure dangerous felons and accused felons were not being released with light sentences and plea bargains. The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office took the unprecedented step of taking over the office after a case where Damien Seace was released after being accused of strangling and making accusations he would kill his girlfriend, Jennifer Burpee, and then later, while out on bail, being accused of killing her.

Republican David Fredette also bested Democrat William Bryk by about 17,000 votes as well as Richard Manzo, the Libertarian.

In the register of deeds race, however, Democrat Mary Ann Crowell beat Republican Jack Flanagan by more than 1,900 votes.

Elizabeth Ann Moreau, a Republican, won the register of probate contest by more than 5,500 votes over Democrat Elizabeth Ropp.

Incumbent commissioners, Toni Pappas and Robert Rowe, both Republicans, were reelected while Michael Soucy, another Republican, was elected to the open District 2 seat.

In Rockingham County, all but one Republican won reelection or open seats, according to the unofficial returns: Chuck Massahos was reelected sheriff over Patrick Rivard; Patricia Conway was reelected attorney over Steven Briden; Scott Priestly won the treasurer seat over Ty Quinn; Cathy Stacey beat Michael McCord for register of deeds; and Ray Tweedie was elected the register of probate over Bob Davidson.

In the District 1 Commissioner's race, Kate Coyle, a Democrat, bested Kevin P. St. James, a Republican, by more than 650 votes out of 33,000 votes cast. But in District 3, Republican Brian Chirichiello beat Stephen D'Angelo by more than 10,100 votes.

Merrimack County, which is now considered one of the more liberal counties in the state after demographic shifts, elected all but two Democrats to its county positions.

David Croft beat Dennis Crawford by nearly 2,200 votes for the open sheriff's seat; Kathleen Donnelly beat Mary Heath for the treasurer seat by 528 votes; Susan Cragin was unopposed for the register of deeds position, and won both the Democrat and Republican side of ballots, while Tara Reardon ran unopposed for the District 1 commissioner's seat. Jane Bradstreet was able to fend off a challenge by Scott Maltzie by close to 5,000 votes.

However, Republican Paul Halvorsen, in his second run at the county attorney seat, was able to beat Robin Davis, a Democrat, by more than 1,200 votes. Davis was mired by personnel issues and one lawsuit after being elected for the open seat two years ago and making changes to the department that were criticized by county police chiefs and domestic violence and sexual assault advocates. A dozen rape victims or family members connected to rape victims were critical of Davis' handling of their cases with two filing complaints with the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office asking them to step in like it did in Hillsborough County.

Another Republican victory in Merrimack County was Republican Stuart Trachy over Mario Ratzki, a Democrat, for another commissioner's seat, by about 5,600 votes.

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