Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in New Hampshire

September 3, 2018

From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

Ahead of the New Hampshire primary election on September 11, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in New Hampshire primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 4 (4D) of 4 members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation (100%)
Filed: 5 (4D, 1R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R): 20% (5 of 25)

SENATE

Current: 2 of 2 senators

Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan currently serve as U.S. senators from New Hampshire. Neither is up for re-election this year.

HOUSE

Current: 2 of 2 representatives (100%)

Current Representative Carol Shea-Porter (D) is not running for re-election this year, while incumbent Representative Ann McLane Kuster is running for another term in 2018.

Filed: 5 (4D, 1R)

Incumbent Representative Ann McLane Kuster is unopposed in her primary bid for re-election. 1 (1R) woman is running to challenge her in the general election.
3 (3D) women are running for the open seat in New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district.

Districts with Women Candidates: 2 of 2
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R): 20% (5 of 25)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates: 33.3% (4 of 12)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 7.7% (1 of 13)

Recent history: The number of women who filed for major party candidacy for the U.S. House in New Hampshire in 2018 is greater than any other year between 2008 and 2018.

This year marks the highest number of Democratic women running for the U.S. House in New Hampshire between 2008 and 2018, and matches the high point for Republican women candidates in the same period.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
3 (2D, 1R) women have served as governor of New Hampshire.

Filed: 1 (1D)

Molly Kelly is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Governor Chris Sununu (R) in the general election.

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R): 33.3% (1 of 3)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates: 50% (1 of 2)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 0% (0 of 1)

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).