Recount flip gives Dems one more seat in NH House

Update (Nov. 17, 2022): The recount for the Hillsborough 16 state rep race was reopened and will continue on Monday, Nov. 21.

CONCORD — Maxine Mosley was ecstatic Monday afternoon at the state archives, where a recount of votes cast in last week's election showed that she won a NH House seat after all.

Election day totals showed Mosley, a Democrat, losing by 23 votes. But the recount showed her winning by 1 vote in Hillsborough County District 16 (Manchester Ward 6).

"I didnt come in here with any expectations other than to let the process do its job," she said.

Mosley, a retired school counselor, said education policy, tax relief and protecting women's reproductive health care rights are among her top priorities.

"My daughter and my nieces should not have to worry about the rights that I've been able to enjoy my entire adult life and that my grandmother and great-grandmother fought for," she said.

Mosley beat Republican incumbent NH Rep. Larry Gagne, flipping a seat from GOP to the Democrats in the 400-member chamber that's almost evenly divided between the parties.

Gagne told the Union Leader's Kevin Landrigan that he didn't currently have plans to appeal his loss. But Rep. Will Infantine, the other Republican in the district, told Landrigan that an appeal will be made to the Ballot Law Commission.

Republicans now appear to have won a 202-198 majority in the NH House, but more recounts this week could further shift that balance in either direction.

Aside from the four recounts held Monday, the NH Secretary of State's Office received requests for at least 19 more in state rep races, a spokesperson said shortly before the 5 p.m. deadline.

Some of those recounts involve races with a single-digit vote margin between winning and losing candidates.

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