2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on Election Day on November 7, 2000 as part of the 2000 United States presidential election. The 2 major candidates were Texas Governor George W. Bush of the Republican Party and sitting Vice President Al Gore of the Democratic Party. When all votes were tallied, Bush was declared the winner with a plurality of the vote over Gore, receiving 48% of the vote to Gore's 47%, while Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received almost 4% of the vote in the state. Bush went on to win the election nationwide. Had incumbent Vice President Gore come out victorious with New Hampshire and its four electoral votes, he would have won the presidency. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that the Republican nominee carried New Hampshire. It also marked the last time that a Republican won any electoral votes in New England, until Donald Trump won Maine's 2nd congressional district in 2016.
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 County Results
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| Elections in New Hampshire |
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Analysis
In 2000, New Hampshire was considered a swing state. While it had voted for Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in the 1980s, Democrat Bill Clinton won the state twice in the 1990s, and polling indicated that the state would be a toss-up in 2000. New Hampshire would play a pivotal role in the outcome of the 2000 Presidential Election.
George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in New Hampshire, by a narrow 7,211 votes, in the midst of one of the closest elections in US history. Had Gore won the state, New Hampshire's electoral college votes would have swung the national election in his favor.
The 2000 election was the most recent time (and so far only time as of 2020, since 1988) that a Republican presidential candidate won New Hampshire or any state in New England, though Donald Trump did win an electoral vote from Maine in 2016 and 2020. New Hampshire would narrowly vote for Democrats John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 by increasingly larger margins. However, Hillary Clinton would reverse this trend, only carrying the state with a razor-thin margin over Republican Donald Trump in 2016. The previous trends returned as Joe Biden defeated Trump by an even larger margin than the previous elections.
The election is the only time after 1944 that New Hampshire did not vote the same as neighboring Vermont and the only time after 1968 in which it did not vote the same as neighboring Maine.
Results
Bush won 6 of the 10 counties, including winning Belknap County with over 55% and winning every town in the county. Bush also won in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district.
| 2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | George Bush | Dick Cheney | 273,559 | 48.07% | 4 | |
| Democratic | Al Gore | Joe Lieberman | 266,348 | 46.80% | 0 | |
| Green | Ralph Nader | Winona LaDuke | 22,198 | 3.70% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Harry Browne | Art Olivier | 2,757 | 0.48% | 0 | |
| Independent | Pat Buchanan | Ezola Foster | 2,615 | 0.46% | 0 | |
| Write-ins | Various candidates | — | 1,276[lower-alpha 1] | 0.23% | 0 | |
| Constitution | Howard Phillips | J. Curtis Frazier | 328 | 0.06% | 0 | |
| Totals | 569,081 | 100.00% | 4 | |||
| Voter turnout (Voting age/Registered) | 61%/67% | |||||
Results by county
| County | George Walker Bush[1] Republican |
Albert Arnold Gore, jr.[1] Democratic |
Ralph Nader[1] Green |
Harry Edson Browne[1] Libertarian |
Patrick Joseph Buchanan[1] Independent |
Various candidates[lower-alpha 2] Other parties |
Margin | Total votes cast | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Belknap | 14,799 | 55.23% | 10,719 | 40.00% | 977 | 3.65% | 88 | 0.33% | 124 | 0.46% | 88 | 0.33% | 4,080 | 15.23% | 26,795 |
| Carroll | 12,597 | 52.75% | 9,852 | 41.26% | 1,086 | 4.55% | 131 | 0.55% | 119 | 0.50% | 94 | 0.39% | 2,745 | 11.50% | 23,879 |
| Cheshire | 13,793 | 41.30% | 17,382 | 52.05% | 1,750 | 5.24% | 152 | 0.46% | 186 | 0.56% | 132 | 0.40% | -3,589 | -10.75% | 33,395 |
| Coös | 7,329 | 50.20% | 6,570 | 45.00% | 463 | 3.17% | 69 | 0.47% | 133 | 0.91% | 36 | 0.25% | 759 | 5.20% | 14,600 |
| Grafton | 18,092 | 46.71% | 18,326 | 47.31% | 1,783 | 4.60% | 209 | 0.54% | 210 | 0.54% | 113 | 0.29% | -234 | -0.60% | 38,733 |
| Hillsborough | 80,649 | 48.65% | 77,625 | 46.83% | 5,465 | 3.30% | 811 | 0.49% | 755 | 0.46% | 456 | 0.28% | 3,024 | 1.82% | 165,761 |
| Merrimack | 30,028 | 47.15% | 30,622 | 48.08% | 2,343 | 3.68% | 286 | 0.45% | 230 | 0.36% | 175 | 0.27% | -594 | -0.93% | 63,684 |
| Rockingham | 65,860 | 49.09% | 61,628 | 45.93% | 5,213 | 3.89% | 626 | 0.47% | 534 | 0.40% | 312 | 0.23% | 4,232 | 3.15% | 134,173 |
| Strafford | 21,108 | 42.73% | 25,400 | 51.42% | 2,273 | 4.60% | 286 | 0.58% | 210 | 0.43% | 116 | 0.23% | -4,292 | -8.69% | 49,393 |
| Sullivan | 9,302 | 49.83% | 8,224 | 44.06% | 845 | 4.53% | 99 | 0.53% | 114 | 0.61% | 82 | 0.44% | 1,078 | 5.78% | 18,666 |
| Totals | 273,559 | 48.07% | 266,348 | 46.80% | 22,198 | 3.90% | 2,757 | 0.48% | 2,615 | 0.46% | 1,604[lower-alpha 1] | 0.28% | 7,211 | 1.27% | 569,081 |
By congressional district
Bush and Gore both won a congressional district.[2]
| District | Bush | Gore | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 49% | 46% | John E. Sununu |
| 2nd | 47% | 48% | Charles Bass |
Electors
Although voters select or write in their preferred candidate on a ballot, voters in New Hampshire, as in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, technically cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Since New Hampshire is represented by 2 congressional districts and 2 senators, it is allocated 4 electoral votes. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 4 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whichever candidate wins the most votes in the state is awarded all four electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.
The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000[3] to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney:[4]
- Stephen Duprey
- Wayne MacDonald
- Augusta Petrone
- Irusha Peiris
Notes
- 775 of these write-in votes were for John McCain and 55 for Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin, and were not separated by county.[1]
- The county totals in this column include the Constitution Party vote and write-in candidates other than McCain and Hagelin. Votes for miscellaneous write-in candidates, but not McCain and Hagelin, are available separated by county.[1]
References
- Our Campaigns; NH US President Race, November 07, 2000
- "2000 Presidential General Election Data – New Hampshire". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
- "2000 Events Timeline". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2009-10-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
