New Hampshire voters are picking a successor to retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The race is between Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas and Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu.
Pappas has represented New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District since 2019. If he wins, he would be the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate, according to the Associated Press.
Sununu is trying to make a comeback. He held this Senate seat from 2003 to 2009 before losing it to Shaheen, and he comes from one of the state's best-known political families.
Republicans had hoped the open seat would be a pickup chance in their effort to protect the Senate majority. Late polls favored Pappas. The final University of New Hampshire poll had Pappas ahead 54 percent to 42 percent among likely voters. Other late polls showed smaller leads for Pappas. Polls are a snapshot, not a result.
Voters also faced a new rule this year. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed New Hampshire to fully ban student IDs as voter identification for the midterms, the AP reported.
Most New Hampshire polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Central, with some open until 8 p.m. Eastern.
Ballots are counted by state and local election officials. Raw 100.5 does not call races. Like NPR and PBS, we rely on the Associated Press, which declares a winner only when it determines a trailing candidate has no path left to win.
Sources: Associated Press, PBS News, University of New Hampshire Survey Center, NPR