Londonderry Elects Six Republicans, One Democrat to NH House

By Kaitlyn Woods

Londonderry Democrats secured a seat in the state Legislature with Lisa Whittemore’s narrow victory over Frank Emiro Sr. in Tuesday’s election, which saw an impressive voter turnout.

Whittemore is the first Democrat in 100 years to defeat a Republican candidate for state representative in a regular election in Londonderry, according to Londonderry Republican Committee Chairman Greg Carson.

Republican State Representatives Al Baldasaro and David Lundgren tied for the lead with 6,398 votes. Following closely behind in the polls were Betsy McKinney, with 6,172 votes; Robert Introne, with 5,415 votes; Sherman Packard, with 5,321 votes; and Daniel Tamburello with 5,307 votes. Whittemore received 5,261 votes to secure Londonderry's seventh and final state representative seat.

“The competition was keen,” Baldasaro said. “All the candidates worked hard.”

Baldasaro added that he was happy to see almost all of the candidates in his party elected.

“With the large amount of new registered voters, we didn’t know which way it would go. I’m happy Londonderry is still a strongly conservative town,” he said, adding that he and fellow Republicans will welcome Whittemore.

“I congratulate Whittemore on her win,” he said.

Also receiving the most votes in Londonderry was Republican incumbent State Senator Sharon Carson, with 6,516 votes. Following Carson was Democrat Katherine Messner, with 4,678 votes. WMUR reports that with all three precincts reporting, Carson won re-election, receiving 13,676 votes to Messner's 10,448.

Republican candidates for national races also led in Londonderry.

Mitt Romney led in the Londonderry polls by a large margin with 7,295 votes. President Barack Obama garnered 5,660 votes in Londonderry.

For governor, Republican candidate Ovide Lamontagne led with 6,498 votes to Maggie Hassan’s 5,998 votes. 

Republican candidate for Executive Councilor Robert Burns led by a narrow margin with 5,823 votes in Londonderry. Democratic opponent Christopher Pappas garnered 5,312 votes.

Republican Congressman Frank Guinta received 6,518 votes in Londonderry, compared to 5,558 for Democrat Carol Shea-Porter.

A total of 13,197 Londonderry voters turned out for Tuesday's election, a little more than 75 percent of registered voters in the town.

More than 1,000 new voters registered on Election Day. New voters who entered the Londonderry High School gymnasium before the polls closed at 8 p.m. were still registering until around 9:30, and the final ballots were cast just before 10 p.m.