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New Hampshire gubernatorial election, 2020 (September 8 Republican primary)

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2024
2016
Governor of New Hampshire
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: June 12, 2020
Primary: September 8, 2020
General: November 3, 2020

Pre-election incumbent(s):
Gov. Chris Sununu (R)
How to vote
Poll times: Varies by municipality
Voting in New Hampshire
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness
State executive elections in 2020
Impact of term limits in 2020
State government trifectas
State government triplexes
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
New Hampshire
executive elections
Governor

Executive Council (5 seats)

A Republican Party primary took place on September 8, 2020, in New Hampshire to determine which candidate would earn the right to run as the party's nominee in the state's gubernatorial election on November 3, 2020. New Hampshire's 2020 gubernatorial and state legislative elections affected partisan control of redistricting following the 2020 census. In New Hampshire, the state legislature is responsible for drafting both congressional and state legislative district plans. District plans are subject to gubernatorial veto.

This page focuses on New Hampshire's Republican gubernatorial primary. For more in-depth information on New Hampshire's Democratic gubernatorial primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

New Hampshire modified its primary election process as follows:

  • Voting procedures: Any voter may request an absentee ballot based on concerns related to COVID-19. Voters could submit one absentee ballot application for both the primary and general elections.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Candidates and election results

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of New Hampshire

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Chris Sununu
Chris Sununu
 
89.8
 
130,703
Image of Karen Testerman
Karen Testerman
 
9.3
 
13,589
Image of Nobody
Nobody
 
0.9
 
1,239
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
95

Total votes: 145,626
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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State profile

Demographic data for New Hampshire
 New HampshireU.S.
Total population:1,330,111316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):8,9533,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:93.7%73.6%
Black/African American:1.3%12.6%
Asian:2.4%5.1%
Native American:0.2%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0%0.2%
Two or more:1.8%3%
Hispanic/Latino:3.2%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:92.3%86.7%
College graduation rate:34.9%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$66,779$53,889
Persons below poverty level:9.9%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in New Hampshire.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in New Hampshire

New Hampshire voted for the Democratic candidate in six out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, three are located in New Hampshire, accounting for 1.46 percent of the total pivot counties.[1]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. New Hampshire had one Retained Pivot County and two Boomerang Pivot Counties, accounting for 0.55 and 8.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More New Hampshire coverage on Ballotpedia

See also

New Hampshire State Executive Elections News and Analysis
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New Hampshire State Executive Offices
New Hampshire State Legislature
New Hampshire Courts
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New Hampshire elections: 2025202420232022202120202019201820172016
Party control of state government
State government trifectas
State of the state addresses
Partisan composition of governors

External links

Footnotes

  1. The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.