New Hampshire voters have reelected Sen. Maggie Hassan, as Democrats fight to retain control of the Senate.
Hassan held a lead over Republican candidate Don Bolduc, U.S. Army veteran and former election denier, in the months ahead of Tuesday's elections.
Before she was elected to the U.S. Senate, Hassan served in the state Senate from 2004 to 2010 and then as governor from 2013 to 2017. Part of her reelection strategy was identifying as "an independent leader," working with politicians from both sides of the aisle to get things done.
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She also ran as a champion of women's rights as one of 48 senators sponsoring the Women's Health Protection Act, which would federally protect an individual's right to end a pregnancy, as well as protect health care workers' legal right to perform abortions.
Bolduc ran with a focus on inflation and the economy, and had initially pushed former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The latter got him through the New Hampshire primaries, but he quickly reversed his position after receiving the Republican nomination.
He told NPR member station WBUR in October that he changed his mind on the issue, and that "I no longer have that position, and I'm not doing it to cater to anybody." The sudden change of opinion gave the impression that he could be trying to reel in independent voters, WBUR reported, a sentiment shared by Hassan.
"He spent over a year stoking the big lie," Hassan told WBUR. "What you're seeing now is Don Bolduc trying to hide and mislead people about how extreme he really is."
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