2020 United States Senate election in New Hampshire


The 2020 United States Senate election in New Hampshire was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of New Hampshire, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen won reelection to a third term after comfortably defeating Republican nominee Bryant Messner by 15.6 points and sweeping every single county in the state. This marked the first Senate election since 1972 in which the Democrat carried Belknap County.
Shaheen's final margin outperformed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the concurrent presidential election by around 8 percentage points, while carrying two counties that voted for Donald Trump.
The primary election was held on September 8, 2020.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrew

Declined

Other candidates

Libertarian Party

Nominee

Bull Moose Party

Did not qualify

  • Thomas Sharpe V, firefighter and U.S. Navy veteran

General election

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jeanne
Shaheen 		Corky
Messner 		Other /
Undecided
American Research GroupOctober 26–28, 2020600 ± 4%57%40%3%
University of New HampshireOctober 24–28, 2020864 ± 3.3%54%43%2%
Saint Anselm CollegeOctober 23–26, 20201,018 ± 3.1%54%39%8%
YouGov/UMass LowellOctober 16–26, 2020757 ± 4.5%57%38%5%
University of New HampshireOctober 9–12, 2020899 ± 3.3%55%40%6%
Suffolk UniversityOctober 8–12, 2020500 ± 4.4%51%36%13%
Saint Anselm CollegeOctober 1–4, 20201,147 ± 2.9%53%38%8%
Emerson CollegeSeptember 30 – October 1, 2020700 ± 3.6%55%40%5%
American Research GroupSeptember 25–28, 2020600 ± 4%56%40%4%
University of New HampshireSeptember 24–28, 2020972 ± 3.1%54%41%5%
YouGov/UMass LowellSeptember 17–25, 2020657 ± 4.6%56%37%7%
University of New HampshireAugust 28 – September 1, 20201,889 ± 2.3%54%36%9%
University of New HampshireJuly 16–28, 20201,893 ± 2.2%54%35%12%
University of New HampshireJune 18–22, 2020932 ± 2.8%50%37%13%
University of New HampshireMay 14–18, 2020788 ± 3.2%52%34%14%
University of New HampshireFebruary 19–25, 2020576 ± 4.1%52%28%21%

with Don Bolduc

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jeanne
Shaheen 		Don
Bolduc 		Other /
Undecided
University of New HampshireAugust 28 – September 1, 20201,889 ± 2.3%53%37%10%
University of New HampshireJuly 16–28, 20201,893 ± 2.2%54%35%10%
University of New HampshireJune 18–22, 2020932 ± 2.8%51%39%11%
University of New HampshireMay 14–18, 2020788 ± 3.2%50%39%11%
University of New HampshireFebruary 19–25, 2020576 ± 4.1%49%30%22%
Remington Research (R)August 12–14, 2019427 ± 4.7%47%42%11%
Gravis MarketingAugust 2–6, 2019505 ± 4.4%51%38%11%

with Corey Lewandowski

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jeanne
Shaheen 		Corey
Lewandowski 		Other /
Undecided
American Research GroupDecember 12–16, 2019539 ± 4.2%58%35%7%
Emerson CollegeNovember 22–26, 20191,184 ± 2.8%52%40%8%
American Research GroupSeptember 20–24, 2019560 ± 4.1%56%34%10%
Emerson CollegeSeptember 6–9, 20191,041 ± 3.0%49%39%12%
Remington Research (R)August 12–14, 2019427 ± 4.7%50%37%–

with Bill O'Brien

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jeanne
Shaheen 		Bill
O'Brien 		OtherUndecided
University of New HampshireFebruary 19–25, 2020576 ± 4.1%51%30%5%14%
Gravis MarketingAugust 2–6, 2019505 ± 4.4%52%39%–9%

with Chris Sununu

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jeanne
Shaheen 		Chris
Sununu 		Undecided
Emerson CollegeFebruary 21–22, 2019910 ± 3.2%44%44%12%
YouGov/UMass AmherstFebruary 7–15, 2019600 ± 4.8%45%42%10%

with Kelly Ayotte

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Jeanne
Shaheen 		Kelly
Ayotte 		Undecided
YouGov/UMass AmherstFebruary 7–15, 2019600 ± 4.8%41%36%20%

with Generic Democrat and Generic Republican

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Generic
Democrat		Generic
Republican		OtherUndecided
Saint Anselm CollegeAugust 15–17, 20201,042 ± 3%49%44%2%4%
Saint Anselm CollegeJun 13–16, 20201,072 ± 3%46%43%2%8%
Saint Anselm CollegeApr 23–27, 2020820 ± 3.4%49%42%3%6%

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Shaheen won both congressional districts.
DistrictShaheenMessnerRepresentative
56%42%Chris Pappas
57%40%Annie Kuster