This New Hampshire special election win shows that Democrats have momentum. And Republicans do not.
State Democrats have once again scored a major win over Republicans in a competitive legislative district. Tuesday night, Democrat Kevin Cavanaugh claimed a decisive 55–44 victory in New Hampshire Senate District 16 — the second consecutive victory for New Hampshire Democrats in less than a week. And let’s be clear: this was a critical special election, in a swing district, in a swing state.
In 2016, Democrats flipped SD16 by just over 600 votes, and Tuesday’s victory puts the Republican-controlled state Senate in play ahead of 2020 redistricting. While Hillary Clinton was only able to carry the district by less than one point in 2016, Senator-elect Cavanaugh crossed the finish line with an eleven point lead over his Republican opponent, former state Senator David Boutin. Not only that, Cavanaugh continued state Democrats overperformance trend by improving on Hillary’s 2016 margin of victory by ten points.
Senator-Elect Cavanaugh will bring a wealth of experience to the New Hampshire Senate from his work as a union organizer and long-time advocate for working families in the Granite State. As an alderman in Manchester and high-school football coach, he’s been deeply involved in his community and understands the importance of supporting families through a strong, job-creating economy, quality public education, and a fairly and freely-elected government.
With the support of the DLCC political team, the Cavanaugh campaign was able to run a strong field program that resulted in over 45,000 voter contact efforts on phones and doors before the polls closed. Additional backing came from the DLCC’s independent arm, Legislative Majority PAC, through which the DLCC provided leadership and resources for paid communications, polling, and additional voter contact efforts.
Cavanaugh was also one of the first candidates to be highlighted on the Committee’s newly-launched Spotlight Races page. Spotlight Races is bringing national attention to the legislative races critical to winning back statehouse majorities. Users can explore candidate profiles, learn about the race, connect with candidates on social media, and contribute directly to campaigns. Spotlight Races will be constantly updated throughout the political cycle to showcase consequential new races across the country, directing attention and resources to the candidates on the frontlines of the resistance — just like Kevin Cavanaugh in New Hampshire.
Cavanaugh’s victory on Tuesday built on a series of big wins for state Democrats. Democratic wins in the Granite State include Rep. Edie DesMarais’ successful takeover of a former GOP stronghold in May, and Rep.-elect Kris Schultz’s landslide victory last week. Other Democratic victories this year include statehouse wins in New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and even ruby-red Oklahoma. Since Trump’s inauguration, state Democrats have overperformed in almost every legislative special election and have successfully flipped four seats from red to blue. And the DLCC is just getting started: we are prepared to keep this momentum going and carry state Democrats to victory in upcoming specials in Iowa, Missouri, Florida, and Washington, as well as November elections in Virginia and New Jersey.
