maggie hassan led kelly ayotte by just 1,016 votes out of more than 738,000 cast, according to the secretary of state<u+2019>s official tally. | ap photo by burgess everett 11/09/16 05:04 pm est gop sen. kelly ayotte conceded to democrat maggie hassan wednesday evening, declining to pursue a recount in the nation<u+2019>s closest senate race and tipping a second seat to democrats after tuesday<u+2019>s election. hassan led ayotte by just 1,019 votes out of more than 738,000 cast, according to the secretary of state<u+2019>s official tally. the margin was well within the limits for a recount, but ayotte conceded to hassan a day after the polls closed. story continued below <u+201c>i just spoke with governor hassan to congratulate her on her election to serve in the u.s. senate,<u+201d> ayotte said in a statement. <u+201c>i wish governor hassan, her husband tom, and their children ben and meg the very best.<u+201d> hassan was one of senate democrats<u+2019> most prized recruits this year, and democrats needed every bit of the sitting governor<u+2019>s popularity to take on ayotte, who also remained more liked than not by new hampshire voters throughout the campaign. both senate nominees picked up thousands more votes than the two major-party presidential candidates did in the state. ayotte<u+2019>s defeat knocks a rising republican star <u+2014> and one of the party<u+2019>s most prominent women <u+2014> out of the ranks of gop elected officials, while adding another female democratic senator in a key state. <u+201c>i want to thank senator ayotte for a hard-fought campaign, for her service to our state, and for her graciousness when we spoke a short while ago,<u+201d> hassan said in her statement on wednesday. the race lasted for 13 months and was tight in the polls nearly the whole way, while typically showing hillary clinton leading the presidential race, which dominated stretches of the race. ayotte unendorsed president-elect donald trump during the final month of the campaign, after tape leaked of him describing sexually assaulting women. just days earlier, ayotte had hastily backtracked after saying during a debate that trump could be a role model for children. ultimately, both candidates ran very close to their ticket-mates. clinton leads trump by over 1,400 votes in the completed tally, but the race has not yet been called by the associated press. the senate race also turned into a referendum on gun control, with advocates singling out ayotte as someone who voted against the wishes of her constituents by opposing a universal background checks bill in 2013. americans for responsible solutions, the gun-control group co-founded by former rep. gabrielle giffords, rained down $2.5 million in ads, hoping that they could make an example out of her. by burgess everett , kevin robillard and seung min kim <u+201c>she was the senator we were most surprised about voting no on manchin-toomey 2013,<u+201d> said ars senior adviser pia carusone. <u+201c>this would be a great new hampshire issue for her to cross the aisle on. for some reason she didn<u+2019>t.<u+2019><u+201d> while hassan and her allies knocked ayotte for her record on supporting conservative budgets, defunding planned parenthood and voting down background checks, ayotte cast herself as swashbuckling centrist willing to stand up to anyone, republican or democrat, and bragged repeatedly about how bipartisan she is. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m running as kelly ayotte. and that means on the works i<u+2019>ve done on a bipartisan basis,<u+201d> ayotte said when asked in an interview last month if she was running as a moderate. she also sought to make the race a personality contrast with hassan, whose discipline is nearly unparalleled among senate candidates this cycle. though often steely and intense in washington, ayotte is a warm presence in new hampshire and tried to win the race through retail politics. though new hampshire is a small enough state that such door-to-door campaigning can be effective, ultimately it was not enough for her to overcome trump and the national mood. <u+201c>they knew the danger of turning sen. ayotte into kelly,<u+201d> said one state republican familiar with the campaign. <u+201c>in a retail-heavy state it<u+2019>s difficult to say that person you met know and have a favorable impression of is a sell-out.<u+201d> if ayotte<u+2019>s strength was face-to-face contact with voters, hassan<u+2019>s was polished messaging and relentless attacks on ayotte as a partisan. she then burnished those volleys with her own record leading a state with a republican legislature, vowing repeatedly to take her brand of aisle-crossing politics down to washington. while ayotte cast hassan as a clinton clone, the new hampshire governor picked a pair of national security issues to stand against the national democrats on: guantanamo bay and syrian refugees. hassan opposed president barack obama<u+2019>s plans on both, and said she will stand up to clinton if she doesn<u+2019>t change course. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ll never be afraid to stand up to my party on any issue because my focus has always been on the security, safety, the well being and the economy of new hampshire,<u+201d> hassan said. hassan<u+2019>s win also makes a bit of new hampshire history: hassan and sen. jeanne shaheen will make up the only pair of female former governors to serve together in the senate. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
ayotte concedes to hassan in new hampshire - politico
burgess everett burgess everett kevin robillard seung min kim jack shafer