The latest episode of The Map Room is out on Old Bull TV! This week, Eric Cunningham (@decunningham2), Nick Morris (@TossupReport), and special guest James Newton (@JimNPol) discuss the state of New Hampshire. After finishing the series on Texas, the team goes up to New England to take a deep dive on the Granite State.
While many states have a sharp urban-rural divide, New Hampshire doesn’t fall into that category. There are a combination of urban and suburban Republicans as well as rural Democrats, leading to a state that is extremely competitive overall. Hillary Clinton won this state by under 3,000 votes – the closest raw vote total of any state in the country. This state hasn’t voted Republican at the presidential level since 2000, yet Republicans have won overwhelming margins in some state elections.
On top of the typical New England town meetings, New Hampshire also has some unusual traits: the largest lower house in the country, one of the smallest upper houses, and a Governor that is elected every two years, sharing power with an Executive Council. Its politically-competitive nature makes it difficult to gerrymander, and both congressional districts are fairly competitive.
As always, a wide variety of election maps help show the major demographic and political factors in the state. Its unusual political diversity, roughly even partisan divide, and perpetually competitive and elastic nature make New Hampshire punch well above its weight electorally.
You can find the full episode of The Map Room on YouTube below. If you prefer, you can also listen to it in audio form at Apple Podcasts, PodBay, or PodBean. You can find a full list of episodes at oldbull.tv. Be sure to subscribe to Old Bull TV so you can catch the show each week, and if you liked it be sure to like the episode on YouTube and give it a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts!
