Concord, New Hampshire: Kelly Ayotte Wins a Second Term as Governor, Beating Cinde Warmington

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte won a second two-year term as governor of New Hampshire on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, defeating Democrat Cinde Warmington after a race that stayed close until the final count.

The Associated Press called the race at about 12:42 a.m. EST on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, with about 85 percent of the vote counted. AP results showed Ayotte at 51.1 percent with 299,554 votes. Warmington had 47.2 percent with 276,854 votes. The Fox News Decision Desk also projected Ayotte as the winner, matching the AP call in the early hours of Wednesday.

A short term, decided again

New Hampshire and Vermont are the only two states that elect governors to two-year terms. That rule puts the governor back before voters sooner than in most states, and it made this election a quick test of Ayotte's first term in Concord.

Ayotte first took office as governor in January 2025. Before that, she served as state attorney general and as a United States senator. She is the fourth woman to hold the governor's job in state history, and Tuesday's win keeps her in that office for another term.

Supporters gathered with Ayotte at a victory party at Tuscan Village in Salem, New Hampshire, as the results settled in her favor.

The challenger from Concord

Warmington is a health care lawyer from Concord who served on the state Executive Council from 2021 to 2025. Her campaign focused on affordability, public school funding, and President Donald Trump, and she tried to turn a close contest into an upset on election night.

The final polling pointed to a tight finish. A final poll from the University of New Hampshire had shown Ayotte and Warmington tied at 48 percent each among likely voters. The counted vote broke that tie, but not by a wide margin. Ayotte finished ahead in both the share of the vote and the total count, with Warmington close behind on both measures.

The exception in her own state

Ayotte's win stood out against the wider results of the night. Democrats won control of both the United States House and the United States Senate nationally. In New Hampshire itself, voters chose Democrats for the United States Senate and for both of the state's seats in the United States House.

That split made Ayotte the exception in her own state that night. While Democratic candidates won the federal races in New Hampshire, voters returned a Republican governor to Concord for a second term. The result leaves the state with a Republican at the top of state government and Democrats holding its seats in Washington after the same election.

For Ayotte, the win closes a campaign that never opened a clear gap in the final poll. For Warmington, a first run for governor ends short, after a race that stayed within reach through election day and into the early morning count.