The shift was seismic. Closer than most politicos, and even state legislators themselves, expected.
But as Concord Democratic state Rep. Connie Lane answered the phone two days after the election, she said she was still “doing the happy dance.”
She had good reason to. Her party clinched a blowout win: 292 Democrats out of 400 House members, plus 15 Democrats out of 24 state senators.
Democrats — locally, statewide and across the country — campaigned on making life more affordable. Now, with newfound majorities, they’re sorting out how to do it.
“It’ll be incumbent on Democrats to carry that proactive agenda boldly and bravely,” said Lucas Meyer, a Democratic strategist in New Hampshire and founder of progressive advocacy group Our Economy, Our Future. “To show people that just clearly demonstrated they’re sick of the status quo, to show, ‘Here, here’s how government can lower the cost for working people,’ without raising taxes on them.”
The first decision Democrats will make is who should be the next Speaker of the House. Two candidates have emerged: Alexis Simpson, the current minority leader from Exeter, and Jim Maggiore, a member of the Municipal and County Government Committee from North Hampton.
In a statement to the Monitor, Simpson said Tuesday’s election showed a desire for “course correction” in Concord after Republicans controlled the Legislature for six years. She echoed Democrats’ campaign promises of lowering costs and property taxes and supporting public schools.
“The size of our majority does not change our priorities; it strengthens our responsibility to follow through on the agenda we ran on,” Simpson said. “Property taxes have skyrocketed, health care and prescription drugs are more expensive than ever, and communities are struggling with reduced state support for public schools. We are ready to roll up our sleeves, lead with integrity, and deliver concrete results that make life more affordable for Granite Staters.”
Maggiore stood in the newly renovated Legislative Office Building on Friday to formally announce his run for House Speaker. He said he plans to start a mentorship program to initiate new House members more effectively and be more inclusive of every member regardless of tenure.
Speaking on how he differs from his rival, Maggiore said he would take a more collaborative approach and be open to new ideas.
“We have too often measured success only by what we can stop and prevent,” he said during his speech. “We must now focus, and we will focus, on what we can accomplish. That’s the mandate that we have been given. … So, winning the majority was not enough. We are ready to use it responsibly to deliver lasting results for Granite Staters.”
Rep. Eric Turer, representing Brentwood, was one of several sitting representatives who joined Maggiore for his announcement. He was just elected to his third term in the State House and said, in the past, there were small circles of input on large party decisions.
Turer spoke with Maggiore about a number of bills that would impact Turer’s community, and he said Maggiore would listen. He said he believes Maggiore would be willing to work not just with other party members, but reach across the aisle to deliver important pieces of legislation.
“I went looking around to see if anyone was going to [run], and I was glad that Jim was,” Turer said. “He’s a person that I have come to know, respect and very much like. But it didn’t start out as a personal friendship for a long time. It started out as a professional relationship around things that impacted my bills and my community. Which I think is a good way for us to get to places.”
Lane, who easily won reelection for her fifth term representing Concord’s Ward 2, rattled off all the things Democrats could tackle with their newfound power: housing, healthcare, the minimum wage, education funding.
“The first thing on the chopping block is going to be vouchers,” she said, referring to Education Freedom Accounts, which give families whose children aren’t in public school money to spend on private school and homeschooling expenses and has drawn Democrats’ ire.
“We’re going to have to take a long, hard look at the voucher program,” Lane said, “and really pare it down.”
Lane, the ranking Democrat on the House Election Law Committee, is poised to chair it once her party takes power. She said she wants to reverse some of the “unnecessary restrictions” on voting, as Republicans have tightened requirements and documentation needed to participate in elections.
Republicans, meanwhile, are on defense.
Rep. Mary Murphy, a Republican from Francestown who won reelection, said her biggest concern under new leadership is retaining her position on the House Ways & Means Committee.
She’s glad to have found common ground with Democrats during her first term. Those relationships, she said, will propel her to make progress on her strategy for property tax relief through bringing more businesses to the state. At the same time, she expects some Democrats might propose ideas she views as contrary to that plan, such as reversing business tax cuts. She hopes to persuade them otherwise and steer them toward alternatives.
“I don’t think I’m going to have as much trouble as Republicans who had more of an adversarial relationship with the Democrats,” Murphy said. “I think I’m actually going to be in a pretty good position. … I’m not that concerned that I can’t still be effective.”
The current House majority leader, Rep. Jason Osborne of Auburn, didn’t respond to an interview request. In an op-ed published before the election, he warned readers to “not be fooled” by Democrats’ promises to cut property taxes and argued Republicans were already delivering on an economic agenda for families and businesses across the state.
The success of Democrats’ agenda will depend on how mightily Gov. Kelly Ayotte wields her veto pen. Despite a stronghold of historic proportions in the House, Democrats fell a hair shy of clinching a veto-proof supermajority in the Senate after Jim Creighton, a Republican from Antrim, narrowly eclipsed David Trumble, a Democrat in Weare, by just 389 votes.
Even with Republican majorities in her first term, Ayotte has shown she’s willing to reject legislation she doesn’t approve of. She vetoed 29 bills in 2026 alone. Lawmakers overrode seven of those, with two-thirds of both the House and Senate in agreement.
Ayotte’s interests overlap with Democrats’ in key areas, especially around affordability. She’s repeatedly hammered on solving New Hampshire’s housing crisis and bringing down energy and childcare costs.
Some ideas to increase revenue — such as bringing back the interest and dividends tax, or reversing Republican cuts to business taxes — are less likely to fly with Ayotte. In a statement after the election, the governor promised to “defend the New Hampshire Advantage,” a slogan that Republican legislators often use to describe the state’s low taxes.
“We’ll certainly have to talk with her about what she’s willing to do and work with her,” Lane said. She’d prefer not to rack up vetoes. “We can’t do it without a governor who’s going to work with us, so I just don’t know what that means yet.”
Catherine McLaughlin contributed reporting for this story.
