Belknap County chooses all Republican legislative delegation

LACONIA — Tuesday was not a good day for Democratic candidates in Belknap County.

Local voters rejected the only two Democratic representatives in the 21-member county legislative delegation while a majority of voters in the region supported GOP candidates for president, governor and U.S. Senate.

Statewide trends reported by The Associated Press showed Republicans poised to flip both chambers of the state Legislature from Democratic to Republican control.

Delegation Vice Chair Timothy Lang said GOP control of the House, Senate and governor's office would improve the chances for passage of needed legislation.

For example, he favors a green energy bill that would allow municipalities to participate in wind and solar projects generating more than 1 megawatt of power.

He said a similar bill failed previously due to partisan wrangling.

Lang said the Legislature will also likely be dominated by budget legislation as state officials come to grips with revenue reductions caused by the pandemic and look for ways to cut government spending.

He said a key to his re-election was maintaining good communication with constituents about the coronavirus pandemic, steps being taken to combat the virus, available government assistance, daily case numbers and efforts to flex open the economy after initial closures.

“In my case, all that information and giving people comfort helped me win,” he said.

In some cases, guidance to the public and businesses in New Hampshire was more stringent than recommendations coming out of the White House.

“I’m a big believer in New Hampshire numbers and New Hampshire data for New Hampshire decisions,” said Lang, who serves on the governor’s Economic Reopening Task Force. “When you’re dealing with this issue, people want comfort, want to know what’s going on and don’t want to be afraid all the time. Being upfront with information going out was the key.

“We made intelligent decisions. A lot of time the industries came to us with recommendations, saying, ‘We want to do these things,’ and we agreed.”

Gov. Chris Sununu has also maintained a high profile during the pandemic, holding twice weekly, and then weekly news conferences.

The Republican governor, who easily won re-election, vetoed a bill that would have provided up to three months of paid family medical leave, labeling this a  Democratic income tax plan.

Democratic state Rep. Charlie St. Clair, who was voted out of office, said this often-repeated characterization was an example of Republican disinformation that may have struck a chord in GOP voters.

“Unfortunately, not everybody checks on this stuff,” St. Clair said.

St. Clair, executive director of Laconia Motorcycle Week, was running for a third term. He was first elected in a special election and was then re-elected.

He eschews political labels and says his emphasis in Concord has always been on working for constituents. But he says his party affiliation may have hurt him this time.

“I really think the only issue in Belknap County was if you were a Republican or a Democrat,” he said. “A lot of first-time voters came out and they were energized over the presidential election.”

Rep. Mike Sylvia, the county delegation chairman, said voters understood which party was more frugal with their money.

Whether or not it is called a tax, money would have been needed to fund the family leave bill, he said.

“One of the things I noticed was Democrats had a full page ad of all the things they were going to do for and give to the citizens, with no mention of how they were going to pay for it,” Sylvia said. “People of the county know better.”

In addition to rejecting the candidacy of St. Clair, voters also failed to re-elect Democratic Rep. David Huot.

Huot said the pandemic created a lot of angry voters.

“I think that a lot of the people who voted were people upset about the whole situation, and, of course, President Trump presents an opportunity to vent your spleen with your dissatisfaction with what's going on,” he said.

“That just translates to things President Trump is good at, rabble rousing. People get excited and they will vote for you. I think that's what happened here.”