Republican candidate Donald J. Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States of America.
With a small number of states still to be decided, Trump has collected 279 electoral votes according to the New York Times, with 270 needed to take the presidency. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton only has 218 electoral votes as of this morning, despite having a slight lead in the popular vote.
With 98-percent of precincts in New Hampshire reporting as of this morning, Clinton holds a slight lead of just over 1,500 votes.
As people woke up on Wednesday morning to the new political climate, New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate seat remained up in the air, with a razor-thin margin between incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan.
With 98 percent of precincts reporting by mid-morning on Wednesday, the race remained too close to call, or even speculate, with only about 800 votes seperating the two candidates, and Hassan holding a very narrow lead over Ayotte – who had maintained a narrow lead for most of the night as results rolled in.
Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster held onto her seat this election cycle, re-elected for a third term.
“I’m humbled by the faith you have put in me. I’m committed to the task at hand, and I look forward to continuing to fight for you in Washington,” wrote Kuster in a statement released Wednesday morning.
Susan Brown of Lyndeborough, who donned white in honor of the suffregettes while campaigning outside of Citizen’s Hall in Lyndeborough on Tuesday, said that she believed Kuster would support the overall Democratic agenda, including issues she herself felt strongly about.
“I feel the Democrats are unified in working towards certain things – minimum wage, women’s health and reproductive rights – and I think both [Gov. Maggie] Hassan and Kuster are in line with that.
Sununu named governor
Republicans are returning to power in Concord, as Chris Sununu follows his father’s footsteps to the governorship, defeating Democrat Colin Van Ostern, and Temple-native Democrat Dan Weeks lost his bid for executive councilor to the GOP incumbent, Dave Wheeler.
Republican incumbent Andy Sanborn beat democratic hopeful Lee Nyquist for the state Senate District 9 seat.
Sanborn picked up about 17,000 votes, or 53 percent. Nyquist collected about 14,700 votes, or 46 percent.