2010 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire

2010 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire

←  2008 November 2, 2010 2012  →
All 2 New Hampshire seats to the United States House of Representatives
Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Last election 0 2 Seats won 2 0 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 230,265 200,563 Percentage 51.19% 44.59% Swing 7.52% 9.49%
District results County results Municipality results Republican   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Democratic   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   90–100% Tie   40–50%   50%

The 2010 congressional elections in New Hampshire were held on November 2, 2010, to determine who will represent the state of New Hampshire in the United States House of Representatives. It coincided with the state's senatorial and gubernatorial elections. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 112th Congress from January 2011 until January 2013.

New Hampshire had two seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Both seats were held by Democrats in the 111th Congress. Following the elections, Republicans flipped both seats. This was mainly do to Republicans running up big numbers in Rockingham County for district 1 and Hillsborough County for district 2. As of 2024, this was the last time Republicans have won both U.S. House seats in New Hampshire. Both losing Democratic candidates – Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster – ended up being elected to their respective seats in the next election.

Overview

United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire, 2010 [1]
Party		Votes	Percentage	Seats	+/–
	Republican	230,265	51.19%	2	+2
	Democratic	200,563	44.59%	0	-2
	Libertarian	12,762	2.84%	0	—
	Independents	6,197	1.38%	0	—
Totals		449,787	100.00%	2	—

By district

Results of the 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire by district: ^[2]

District	Republican		Democratic		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	121,655	54.04%	95,503	42.42%	7,966	3.54%	225,124	100.0%	Republican gain
District 2	108,610	48.34%	105,060	46.76%	10,993	4.89%	224,663	100.0%	Republican gain
Total	230,265	51.19%	200,563	44.59%	18,959	4.22%	449,787	100.0%

District 1

See also: New Hampshire's 1st congressional district

Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter was defeated by Republican nominee and former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta on November 2, 2010. Guinta lost re-election in 2012 in a rematch with Shea-Porter. ^[3]

This district covers the southeastern and eastern portions of New Hampshire, consisting of three general areas: Greater Manchester, the Seacoast and the Lakes Region. It includes all of Carroll and Strafford counties, all but three towns of Rockingham County and all but two towns of Belknap County, as well as a small portion of Hillsborough County, and one town in Merrimack County.

Polling

Poll Source	Dates Administered	Carol Shea-Porter (D)	Frank Guinta (R)	Undecided
Granite State Poll [4]	October 27–31, 2010	39%	46%	12%
OnMessage Inc. [5]	October 20–21, 2010	37%	53%	-
The Hill [6]	October 9–12, 2010	42%	47%	9%
Granite State Poll [7]	October 7–12, 2010	36%	48%	11%
Granite State Poll [8]	September 30, 2010	39%	49%	9%
American Research Group [9]	September 27, 2010	40%	50%	8%
Granite State Poll [10]	July 19–27, 2010	44%	39%	16%
Granite State Poll [11]	April 18–28, 2010	38%	42%	19%
Public Policy Polling [12]	April 17–18, 2010	45%	46%	10%
Granite State Poll [13]	February 3, 2010	33%	43%	22%
Populus Research [14]	September 2, 2009	46%	43%	10%
On Message Inc. [15]	April 28, 2009	43%	34%	24%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [16]	Lean R (flip)	November 1, 2010
Rothenberg [17]	Likely R (flip)	November 1, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball [18]	Lean R (flip)	November 1, 2010
RCP [19]	Lean R (flip)	November 1, 2010
CQ Politics [20]	Lean R (flip)	October 28, 2010
New York Times [21]	Lean R (flip)	November 1, 2010
FiveThirtyEight [21]	Likely R (flip)	November 1, 2010

Results

New Hampshire's 1st congressional district election, 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frank Guinta	121,655	54.04
	Democratic	Carol Shea-Porter (inc.)	95,503	42.42
	Libertarian	Philip Hodson	7,966	3.54
Total votes			225,124	100.00
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 2

See also: New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district

2010 New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district election

←  2008 2012  →

Nominee Charles Bass Ann McLane Kuster Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 108,610 105,060 Percentage 48.3% 46.8%

Municipality results Bass:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Kuster:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     >90% No Votes:

U.S. Representative before election Paul Hodes Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Charles Bass Republican

Democratic candidate Ann McLane Kuster was defeated by Republican nominee and former Congressman Charles Bass on November 2, 2010. Bass lost re-election in 2012 in a rematch with Kuster. ^[22]

The 2010 election for this seat was an open seat. Candidates running were Democratic nominee Ann McLane Kuster, Republican nominee Charles Bass, Libertarian nominee Howard Wilson, and Independent candidate Tim van Blommesteyn. In February 2009, Republican U.S. Senator Judd Gregg was briefly nominated to be President Barack Obama's Secretary of Commerce, but withdrew. Gregg announced after withdrawing his nomination that he would not run for re-election, leaving the seat open. Democratic incumbent Paul Hodes had announced his candidacy for the seat while Gregg had been nominated but had not yet withdrawn. ^{[23] [24] [25]}

Concord attorney Ann McLane Kuster and Katrina Swett, faced off in the Democratic primary. (Two other candidates dropped out before the filing deadline in June 2010: State Representative John DeJoie and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Fernald.) ^[26] Kuster was the eventual victor, 69–31. ^[27]

On the Republican side, former state Representative Bob Giuda ^[28] declared his candidacy for the seat. ^[29] The 2008 Republican nominee for this seat, Jennifer Horn, announced her intentions to run a second time on October 7, 2009. ^[30] Former six-term Congressman Charles Bass formed an exploratory committee to run for this seat on October 1, 2009, and later formally filed. ^[31] In the resultant Republican primary, Charlie Bass narrowly defeated Jennifer Horn, with Giuda far behind.

This district consists of the western and northern portions of the state, including all of Cheshire, Coos, Grafton, and Sullivan counties as well as almost all of Merrimack and Hillsborough counties plus three towns in Rockingham County and two towns in Belknap County.

Polling

Poll Source	Dates Administered	Ann McLane Kuster (D)	Charlie Bass (R)	Undecided
Granite State Poll [32]	October 27–31, 2010	43%	40%	11%
Granite State Poll [33]	October 7–12, 2010	43%	36%	16%
The Hill/ANGA [34]	October 5–7, 2010	42%	45%	9%
Granite State Poll [35]	September 23–29, 2010	38%	43%	16%
American Research Group [36]	September 22–26, 2010	36%	38%	21%
Granite State Poll [37]	July 19–27, 2010	29%	47%	23%
Granite State Poll [38]	April 18–28, 2010	30%	42%	27%
Granite State Poll [39]	February 3, 2010	28%	39%	32%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [16]	Tossup	November 1, 2010
Rothenberg [17]	Tossup	November 1, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball [18]	Lean R (flip)	November 1, 2010
RCP [19]	Tossup	November 1, 2010
CQ Politics [20]	Tossup	October 28, 2010
New York Times [21]	Tossup	November 1, 2010
FiveThirtyEight [21]	Tossup	November 1, 2010

Results

New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district election, 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Bass	108,610	48.34
	Democratic	Ann McLane Kuster	105,060	46.76
	Independent	Tim vanBlommesteyn	6,197	2.76
	Libertarian	Howard L. Wilson	4,796	2.13
Total votes			224,663	100.00
	Republican gain from Democratic

References

1. Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010" (PDF). pp. 29 & 30.
2. Haas, Karen L. (June 3, 2011). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010". Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives . Retrieved November 12, 2019.
3. "Republican Frank Guinta Loses In Rematch Of Rematch Of Rematch". HuffPost. November 9, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
4. Granite State Poll
5. OnMessage Inc.
6. The Hill
7. Granite State Poll
8. Granite State Poll
9. American Research Group
10. Granite State Poll
11. Granite State Poll
12. Public Policy Polling
13. Granite State Poll
14. Populus Research Archived 2009-09-08 at the Wayback Machine
15. On Message Inc.
16. "The Cook Political Report – Charts – 2010 House Competitive Races". The Cook Political Report. November 1, 2010. Archived from the original on November 4, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
17. Rothenberg Political Report (November 1, 2010). "House Ratings". Rothenbergpoliticalreport.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
18. Crystal Ball, as of November 1,2010 ^[update]
19. RealClearPolitics, as of November 1,2010 ^[update]
20. "2010 House Ratings Chart". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
21. "House Race Ratings". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
22. "Kuster Wins 2nd Congressional District In Rematch With Bass". New Hampshire Public Radio. November 7, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
23. "In 2010, Rep. Hodes will run for U.S. Senate; Katrina Swett wants his office - Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009". Unionleader.com. February 3, 2009. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
24. "BREAKING: Gregg withdraws". CNN. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
25. "Judd Gregg withdraws as nominee for Commerce secretary, says he won't run in 2010 - Friday, Feb. 13, 2009". Unionleader.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
26. Shira Schoenberg. "DeJoie enters campaign mode". Concord Monitor. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
27. Fortier, Marc (September 15, 2010). "Kuster runs over Swett in 2nd Congressional District". The Eagle-Tribune . Retrieved October 19, 2019.
28. "Bob Giuda for Congress | New Hampshire's Second Congressional District". Bobgiuda.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
29. "John DiStaso's Granite Status: Ayotte beats Hodes in third Q fundraising - Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009". Unionleader.com. October 22, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
30. "Jennifer Horn for Congress". Jenniferhorn.org. August 17, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
31. "Former Rep. Bass Taking Steps Towards Run". Real Republican Majority Blog. October 1, 2009. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
32. Granite State Poll
33. Granite State Poll
34. The Hill/ANGA
35. Granite State Poll
36. American Research Group
37. Granite State Poll
38. Granite State Poll
39. Granite State Poll

External links

• Election Division at the New Hampshire Secretary of State
• U.S. Congress Candidates for New Hampshire at Project Vote Smart
• New Hampshire U.S. House from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign contributions for U.S. Congressional races in New Hampshire from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Illinois General Election graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
• House - New Hampshire from the Cook Political Report