2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire

2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Bush 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%	Gore 40-50% 50-60% 60-70%
President before election; Bill Clinton ; Democratic	Elected President; George W. Bush ; Republican

Last updated March 12, 2024

The 2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on Election Day on November 7, 2000 as part of the 2000 United States presidential election. The two major candidates were Texas Governor George W. Bush of the Republican Party and Vice President Al Gore of the Democratic Party. When all votes were tallied, Bush was declared the winner with a plurality of the vote over Gore, receiving 48% of the vote to Gore's 47%, while Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received almost 4% of the vote in the state. Bush went on to win the election nationwide. Had incumbent Gore come out victorious in New Hampshire with its four electoral votes, he would have won the presidency, regardless of the outcome of Bush v. Gore .

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the only time since 1988 that the Republican nominee carried New Hampshire, making it the only state to vote for the Republican ticket in 2000 never to do so again since, as every other state Bush won in 2000 voted for him again in 2004. It also marked the last time that a Republican won any electoral votes in New England, until Donald Trump won Maine's 2nd congressional district in 2016 and 2020, and the last time a Republican won any state in the Northeastern United States until Donald Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016.

Bush was the first Republican since 1888 to win without Merrimack County, the first since 1880 to win without Grafton County, and the first ever to win without Cheshire County.

Primaries

Results

2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George Bush	Dick Cheney	273,559	48.07%	4
	Democratic	Al Gore	Joe Lieberman	266,348	46.80%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	Winona LaDuke	22,198	3.70%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	Art Olivier	2,757	0.48%	0
	Independent	Pat Buchanan	Ezola Foster	2,615	0.46%	0
	Write-ins	Various candidates	—	1,276^{[lower-alpha 1]}	0.23%	0
	Constitution	Howard Phillips	J. Curtis Frazier	328	0.06%	0
Totals				569,081	100.00%	4
Voter turnout (Voting age/Registered)						61%/67%

Results by county

County	George W. Bush^[1] Republican		Al Gore^[1] Democratic		Ralph Nader^[1] Green		Harry Browne^[1] Libertarian		Pat Buchanan^[1] Independent		Various candidates^{[lower-alpha 2]} Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Belknap	14,799	55.23%	10,719	40.00%	977	3.65%	88	0.33%	124	0.46%	88	0.33%	4,080	15.23%	26,795
Carroll	12,597	52.75%	9,852	41.26%	1,086	4.55%	131	0.55%	119	0.50%	94	0.39%	2,745	11.49%	23,879
Cheshire	13,793	41.30%	17,382	52.05%	1,750	5.24%	152	0.46%	186	0.56%	132	0.40%	-3,589	-10.75%	33,395
Coös	7,329	50.20%	6,570	45.00%	463	3.17%	69	0.47%	133	0.91%	36	0.25%	759	5.20%	14,600
Grafton	18,092	46.71%	18,326	47.31%	1,783	4.60%	209	0.54%	210	0.54%	113	0.29%	-234	-0.60%	38,733
Hillsborough	80,649	48.65%	77,625	46.83%	5,465	3.30%	811	0.49%	755	0.46%	456	0.28%	3,024	1.82%	165,761
Merrimack	30,028	47.15%	30,622	48.08%	2,343	3.68%	286	0.45%	230	0.36%	175	0.27%	-594	-0.93%	63,684
Rockingham	65,860	49.09%	61,628	45.93%	5,213	3.89%	626	0.47%	534	0.40%	312	0.23%	4,232	3.16%	134,173
Strafford	21,108	42.73%	25,400	51.42%	2,273	4.60%	286	0.58%	210	0.43%	116	0.23%	-4,292	-8.69%	49,393
Sullivan	9,304	49.84%	8,224	44.05%	845	4.53%	99	0.53%	114	0.61%	82	0.44%	1,080	5.79%	18,668
Totals	273,559	48.07%	266,348	46.80%	22,198	3.90%	2,757	0.48%	2,615	0.46%	1,604	0.28%	7,211	1.27%	569,081

Counties flipped from Democratic to Republican

Coös (largest city: Berlin)
Hillsborough (largest city: Manchester)
Rockingham (largest municipality: Derry)
Sullivan (largest city: Claremont)

By congressional district

Bush and Gore both won a congressional district. Gore won a district held by a Republican.^[2]

District	Bush	Gore	Representative
1st	49%	46%	John E. Sununu
2nd	47%	48%	Charles Bass

Analysis

In 2000, New Hampshire was considered a swing state. While it had voted Republican in every election from 1948 through 1988 except for 1964, Democrat Bill Clinton won the state twice in the 1990s, and polling indicated that the state would be a toss-up in 2000. New Hampshire would play a pivotal role in the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.

George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in New Hampshire, by a narrow 1.27% (or a raw-vote margin of 7,211 votes), in the midst of one of the closest elections in US history. Had Gore won the state, New Hampshire's electoral college votes would have swung the national election in his favor.

As of 2020, this is the most recent election in which a Republican presidential candidate has carried a state in New England, though Donald Trump would later win a single electoral vote from Maine in 2016 and 2020. Still, New Hampshire has continued to be regarded as a swing state. Beginning in 1972, it has consistently voted to the right of any other state in New England, and the Democratic margins of victory have stayed within single digits in every election following 2000, including a razor-thin 0.4% victory, or 2,736 votes, by Hillary Clinton in 2016. However, in 2020 Joe Biden carried New Hampshire by a fairly comfortable 7.35%, prompting some to wonder whether it was losing its battleground-state status.^[3]

This election was the first and only time since 1944 that New Hampshire voted for a different candidate than neighboring Vermont, the only time ever that New Hampshire voted Republican while Vermont voted Democratic, and the only time since 1968 that New Hampshire voted differently than neighboring Maine.

Electors

Although voters select or write in their preferred candidate on a ballot, voters in New Hampshire, as in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, technically cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Since New Hampshire is represented by 2 congressional districts and 2 senators, it is allocated 4 electoral votes. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 4 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whichever candidate wins the most votes in the state is awarded all four electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000^[4] to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney:^[5]

Stephen Duprey
Wayne MacDonald
Augusta Petrone
Irusha Peiris

Notes

↑ 775 of these write-in votes were for John McCain and 55 for Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin, and were not separated by county.^[1]
↑ The county totals in this column include the Constitution Party vote and write-in candidates other than McCain and Hagelin . Votes for miscellaneous write-in candidates, but not McCain and Hagelin, are available separated by county.^[1]

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Our Campaigns; NH US President Race, November 07, 2000
↑ "2000 Presidential General Election Data – New Hampshire". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
↑ Joyce, Tom (November 9, 2020). "Is New Hampshire Still A Swing State? Political Scientists Weigh In". NewBostonPost. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
↑ "2000 Events Timeline". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
↑ "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2009.

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[McCainandHagelin-2] 775 of these write-in votes were for John McCain and 55 for Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin, and were not separated by county.^[1]

[3] The county totals in this column include the Constitution Party vote and write-in candidates other than McCain and Hagelin . Votes for miscellaneous write-in candidates, but not McCain and Hagelin, are available separated by county.^[1]

[Our-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Our Campaigns; NH US President Race, November 07, 2000

[4] "2000 Presidential General Election Data – New Hampshire". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.

[5] Joyce, Tom (November 9, 2020). "Is New Hampshire Still A Swing State? Political Scientists Weigh In". NewBostonPost. Retrieved May 4, 2021.

[6] "2000 Events Timeline". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.

[7] "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2009.

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