The 2018 New Hampshire gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

. Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Governor

Chris Sununu Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who has served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Sununu was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Coun ...

won re-election to a second term, defeating former state senator Molly Kelly. Sununu was the first incumbent Republican to win reelection as governor since

Steve Merrill Stephen Everett Merrill (June 21, 1946 – September 5, 2020) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Manchester, New Hampshire. He served as the 77th governor of New Hampshire from 1993 to 1997. Early life Merrill was born in No ...

was reelected in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. Primary elections were held on September 11, 2018. The gubernatorial election was coincident with races for the state legislature and the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Background

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

is one of only two states, along with

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, where governors are elected to two-year terms. Republican

was elected in the 2016 election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

, incumbent governor

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

* Molly Kelly, former state senator *

Steve Marchand Steve Marchand (born January 10, 1974) is an American politician. He served as the mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from 2006 to 2008. He is the principal of SRM Consulting, a public affairs and strategic communications firm. Prior to that, he ...

, former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and candidate for governor in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Declined

* Dan Feltes, state senator * Chris Pappas, Executive Councilor (running for NH-01) * Colin Van Ostern, former executive councilor and nominee for governor in

(running for Secretary of State) *

Andru Volinsky Andru H. Volinsky (born March 13, 1956) is an American politician, attorney, and social justice advocate who served as a member of the Executive Council of New Hampshire from the 2nd district from 2017 to 2021. As an attorney, Volinsky served as ...

, Executive Councilor

Polling

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Declared

* Aaron Day, former chair of the Free State Project and independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in

* Jilletta Jarvis, former secretary of the

Libertarian Party of New Hampshire The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH) is the New Hampshire affiliate of the national Libertarian Party (LP). Active since its foundation in 1972, it is the third-largest political party in the state having had multiple members elected ...

and independent candidate for governor in

Results

General election

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

;with Steve Marchand ;with Chris Sununu and generic Democrat ;with generic Republican and Democrat ;with Mark Connolly ;with Sununu and Van Ostern

Results

Results by county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Merrimack (largest city:

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

)

Results by congressional district

Sununu won both congressional districts, which simultaneously elected Democrats.

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Candidates
at Ballotpedia ;Official campaign websites
Jilletta Jarvis (L) for GovernorMolly Kelly (D) for GovernorChris Sununu (R) for Governor
{{New Hampshire elections

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

New Hampshire gubernatorial elections