Don Bolduc Projected as Winner of NH GOP Senate Race

Don Bolduc has been projected by NBC News as the winner of the hotly contested New Hampshire GOP Senate race.

Both the Senate battle and the 2nd District Congressional race had been too close to call until early Wednesday morning.

Bolduc defeated Chuck Morse and will now face off against Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan in November. She clinched her party's nomination against only token opposition on Tuesday night.

Republicans see Hassan as beatable in the general election, now just eight weeks away. But some in the party believe Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, is too far to the right for some swing voters in the general election. Morse, the president of the state Senate, was backed by the GOP establishment.

New Hampshire's Senate seat could prove pivotal for whichever party controls the chamber after November. President Joe Biden carried the state by more than 7 percentage points and Bolduc has campaigned on a platform that includes lies that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and conspiracy theories about vaccines.

"Our campaign overcame the odds and millions of dollars in spending from outside special interest groups because we built a true bottom-up grassroots campaign," Bolduc said in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout the primary, I have felt the concerns of the voters, and heard time and again we need to send an outsider to Washington." 

In the District 2 Republican Congressional race, Robert Burns had 32.5% of the vote, just ahead of George Hansel at 30%, with 81% of results reported. The winner will face Democratic incumbent Annie Kuster in the general election.

Hansel, however, conceded the race in a statement released Wednesday morning.

"Last night didn't go our way, but I would like to thank all of our supporters and voters who made this campaign possible," he said. " I would also like to congratulate Bob Burns on his victory tonight. Ann Kuster has been an absolute disaster for New Hampshire, and I look forward to doing everything I can to ensure we defeat her this November."

Kuster also issued a statement congratulating Burns.

"Granite Staters are exhausted by partisan politics and I look forward to a robust, transparent, and civil debate on the issues that are most important to New Hampshire," she said. "Granite State voters have high expectations for elected officials and I will continue to highlight my proven track record of working with Republicans and Democrats to deliver real results for New Hampshire.”

Also on Tuesday night, Gov. Chris Sununu won the Republican party's nomination for another term. He's heavily favored against Democrat Tom Sherman, who was unopposed for his party's governor's nomination.

Sherman, a state senator and physician, was quick to remind voters that Sununu signed a late-term abortion ban into law last year.

"As governor I will stand up for our freedoms and protect a woman's right to choose, not cave to extremists like Chris Sununu," he said.

Sununu countered in a statement that "the stakes are too high this November to change direction now."

In the Republican primary for the 1st District Congressional seat, Karoline Leavitt was projected as the winner by NBC News late Tuesday over Matt Mowers after shortly after she had declared victory. Leavitt worked in former President Donald Trump's White House’s press office and also campaigned with Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

She will now face off against Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas in November.

Leavitt said she was "sending a strong and clear message to the Washington, D.C., establishment, and our Democratic opponent that our votes cannot be bought, our conservative voices cannot be silenced." She also laced into Pappas, saying he "has campaigned his entire political career as a moderate, bipartisan voice for our district. But he has voted as a far left socialist Democrat.

Pappas also wasted little time going on the offensive against Leavitt, saying, "I will fight with everything I've got to stop extreme politicians like Karoline from hijacking our democracy."