The 2000 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on election day on November 7, as part of the 2000 United States presidential election. The two major candidates were Texas Governor George W. Bush of the Republican Party and 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 Gore come out victorious in New Hampshire with its four electoral votes, he would have won the presidency, regardless of the outcome of Bush v. Gore.

Through the 2024 election, 2000 marks the only time since 1988 that the Republican nominee won New Hampshire. New Hampshire is the only state to vote for the Republican ticket in 2000 to have not done so again. Every other state Bush won in 2000 voted for him again in 2004.

The 2000 election was the last time that a Republican won any electoral votes in New England until Donald Trump won Maine's 2nd congressional district in 2016, and the last time a Republican won any state in the Northeastern United States until Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016.

In 2000, Bush was the first Republican since 1888 to carry the state without Merrimack County, the first since 1880 to win without Grafton County, and the first to win without Cheshire County.

Primaries 2000 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary 2000 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary

Results

2000 United States presidential election in New HampshirePartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral 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 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 CountyGeorge W. BushOur Campaigns; NH US President Race, November 07, 2000RepublicanAl GoreDemocraticRalph NaderGreenHarry BrowneLibertarianPat BuchananIndependentVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal votes cast # % # % # % # % # % # % # % Belknap 14,799 55.23% 10,719 40.00% 977 3.65%880.33%1240.46% 88 0.33% 4,080 15.23% 26,795 Carroll 12,597 52.75% 9,852 41.26% 1,086 4.55%1310.55%1190.50% 94 0.39% 2,745 11.49% 23,879 Cheshire 13,793 41.30% 17,382 52.05% 1,750 5.24%1520.46%1860.56% 132 0.40% -3,589 -10.75% 33,395 Coös 7,329 50.20% 6,570 45.00% 463 3.17%690.47%1330.91% 36 0.25% 759 5.20% 14,600 Grafton 18,092 46.71% 18,326 47.31% 1,783 4.60%2090.54%2100.54% 113 0.29% -234 -0.60% 38,733 Hillsborough 80,649 48.65% 77,625 46.83% 5,465 3.30%8110.49%7550.46% 456 0.28% 3,024 1.82% 165,761 Merrimack 30,028 47.15% 30,622 48.08% 2,343 3.68%2860.45%2300.36% 175 0.27% -594 -0.93% 63,684 Rockingham 65,860 49.09% 61,628 45.93% 5,213 3.89%6260.47%5340.40% 312 0.23% 4,232 3.16% 134,173 Strafford 21,108 42.73% 25,400 51.42% 2,273 4.60%2860.58%2100.43% 116 0.23% -4,292 -8.69% 49,393 Sullivan 9,304 49.84% 8,224 44.05% 845 4.53%990.53%1140.61% 82 0.44% 1,080 5.79% 18,668Totals273,55948.07%266,34846.80%22,1983.90%2,7570.48%2,6150.46%1,6040.28%7,2111.27%569,081 Counties flipped from Democratic to Republican Coös (largest city: Berlin) Hillsborough (largest city: Manchester) Rockingham (largest municipality: Derry) Sullivan (largest city: Claremont)

By congressional district Bush and Gore both won a congressional district. Gore won a district held by a Republican. District Gore Bush Representative 46% 49%John E. Sununu 48% 47%Charles Bass

Analysis In 2000, New Hampshire was considered a swing state. While it had voted Republican in every election from 1948 through 1988 except for 1964, Democrat Bill Clinton won the state twice in the 1990s (1992 and 1996), 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 as George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in New Hampshire by a narrow 1.27% (or a raw-vote margin of 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. This election was the first and only time since 1944 that New Hampshire voted for a different candidate than neighboring Vermont, the only time ever that New Hampshire voted Republican while Vermont voted Democratic, and the only time since 1968 that New Hampshire voted differently than neighboring Maine. As of 2024, this is the most recent election in which a Republican presidential candidate has carried a state in New England, although Donald Trump would later win a single electoral vote from Maine in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

Still, New Hampshire has continued to be regarded as a competitive state. Beginning in 1972, it has consistently voted to the right of any other state in New England, and the Democratic margins of victory stayed within single digits in every election following 2000, including a razor-thin 0.4% victory, or 2,736 votes, by Hillary Clinton in 2016, with the same county map as in 2000. In 2020, Joe Biden carried New Hampshire by a fairly comfortable 7.35%, prompting some to wonder whether it was losing its battleground-state status. In 2024, Kamala Harris won the state by 2.8%, the closest margin of victory of any state she won that year, though Harris still won a majority of the vote in the state.

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 two congressional districts and two senators, it is allocated four electoral votes. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of four electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their 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 their candidate is known as a faithless elector. The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000, 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 Bush and Cheney:

Stephen Duprey Wayne MacDonald Augusta Petrone Irusha Peiris

See also Presidency of George W. Bush United States presidential elections in New Hampshire

Notes

References