Tagged: Maggie Hassan

New Hampshire Democrats met in Manchester this morning at a Unity Breakfast to set the tone for the run up to the general election in November.

Gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan, her former challenger Jackie Cilley, and other Democratic candidates spoke at the party’s first major post-primary event.

In a show of solidarity, Jackie Cilley removed her own campaign button from her coat and pinned a Hassan button in its place, asking her supporters to do the same.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jackie Cilley – a Berlin native – took Coos County with 1,226 votes, according to figures just released by the New Hampshire Secretary of State.

That compared to 1,087 for Maggie Hassan and 187 for Bill Kennedy.

But, of course, Hassan won statewide with 45,143 compared to Cilley’s 33,073. Kennedy had 6,001.

Some of the totals from Coos are below. The full list can be found here.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of last night was not that Democrat Jackie Cilley lost to her rival Maggie, Hassan, but by how big a margin. What was supposed to be a close race turned out to be a run-away.

This primary season the question has been: will democrats elect a candidate who hasn’t pledged to veto an income or sales tax? From the outset, Cilley has made not taking such a pledge the centerpiece of her campaign.

But with the very first poll returns it was clear that Cilley was in for a rough night. Later she took the podium to concede the race.

It was tit for tat. The DC-based Human Rights Campaign, endorsed Maggie Hassan, shortly before 1 o’clock. By quarter to 4, the NH Freedom to Marry Coalition PAC had thrown its support to Jackie Cilley. Both groups were key players in the 2009 push to legalize same sex marriage here, an effort that coincided with Hassan and Cilley’s time in the state senate -- Hassan as majority leader.

In its endorsement of Hassan, the Human Rights Campaign called Hassan “ a champion for fairness and a leader in the fight for marriage equality in New Hampshire.”

With just under a week before primary day the Democratic Candidates for Governor met in Goffstown for their first televised debate. But anyone hoping for clear contrasts between the two leading candidates --  former state Senators Maggie Hassan and Jackie Cilley -- were likely disappointed.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan picked up the endorsement of Paul Hodes today.

The former two-term congressman told a small crowd of supporters in Concord that Maggie Hassan is the best choice for restoring New Hampshire values. Hodes says she’s the only candidate that can bring together Democrats, Independents and what he calls reasonable Republicans.