In true New Hampshire fashion, Chichester and Pittsfield voters split their local ticket, re-electing Republican Rep. Clayton Wood, while voting out his campaigning partner, Rep. Cyril Aures, in favor of Independent newcomer Becky Berk.
Democrats swept battleground races nationwide and in New Hampshire in Tuesday’s midterms, upsetting GOP strongholds as voters took a sharp turn away from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party that he has reshaped over the past decade.
While Wood held on, the unseating of Aures in this deep-red district was one of the down-ballot washouts that flipped the New Hampshire House. Just two years ago, Trump won Pittsfield by 26 percentage points and Chichester by 18.
Despite the wave, Berk said she plans to include more constituents’ voices in the law-making process by “legislating from the center,” and avoiding far-left or far-right agendas.
“I think you alienate and you leave behind people who don’t really want the extreme,” she said. “They want common sense, rational governing from the center, and that’s what I’m hoping to bring to the office.”
After casting her vote in Chichester, Lily Campbell was pleased that Berk and Paul Twomey — who ran an unsuccessful campaign as an Independent alongside Berk — offered the opportunity to vote outside of party lines.
“I don’t necessarily love the two-party system. You’re either far one way or far the other way, and I feel like there’s issues that we can agree on either way and you don’t need to be super extreme either way,” Campbell said. “So I love that we have that option for independents.”
Wood and Berk differ greatly on issues like school funding and taxation, but “we can agree to disagree, and we can honor each other’s perspectives and be honorable toward each other on behalf of our communities,” Berk said.
Wood did not respond to a request for comment.
Aures, who has held the seat since 2022, said he has made peace with his loss.
“I’m not happy with my result, but I am happy that Clayton Wood won,” Aures said. “So at least I feel that Pittsfield-Chichester has a voice.”
Merrimack 13 voters were split across other state-level races, too.
Chichester favored Ayotte for governor, Republican John Sununu for U.S. Senate and Democrat Maggie Goodlander for the U.S. 2nd Congressional District.
Pittsfield, where Trump won nearly 62% of the 2024 vote, favored Democrat Cinde Warmington for governor, Democrat Chris Pappas for U.S. Senate and Republican Lily Tang Williams for the U.S. 2nd Congressional District.
Both towns chose Republican Howard Pearl of Loudon for State Senate District 17.
