Daniels Wins State Senate Primary

In the four-way race for the District 11 state Senate seat representing Amherst, Merrimack, Milford and Wilton, it pretty much wasn’t even close.

Milford resident Gary Daniels, an insurance agent and former Army reservist, easily beat four other candidates for the seat, according to unofficial returns compiled by the Associated Press.

Daniels received more than 2,100 votes, or 39 percent, in the primary.

Even though she won Merrimack, State Rep. Maureen Mooney came in second with a little less than 1,700 votes or about 31 percent.

Dan Hynes and Daniel Dwyer were both at the bottom of the pack with 16 and 14 percent, respectively.

Daniels will face Democrat Roger Tilton in the general election.

Contested state Rep race

In the Hillsborough District 23 Democratic primary race, five candidates were vying for three seats.

Incumbent Ruth Heden topped the ticket with 27 percent of the vote (427 votes). Newcomers Dorothy Lindon (333 votes) and Elise deMichael (315) also won nominations. Herb Salmon received 280 votes and Mark Linn received 204 votes.

Executive Council races

At just after 12 a.m., a number of precincts had not been counted in the District 5 Executive Council primaries, but the totals appeared to be decided.

In the Republican primary, Dave Wheeler had a solid lead against Steve Hattamer by more than 6,500 votes with 35 of 41 precinct counted, or 85 percent of the vote. Wheeler earned 12,500 votes while Hattamer had just shy of 6,000 votes.

In the Democratic primary, Sheehan had 59 percent of the vote, about 3,400 votes, to Jennifer Daler’s 2,315 votes, with 85 percent of precincts in.