Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire will fend off Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Don Bolduc, CBS News projects.
Hassan won women voters 59% to 40%, according to exit polls. Voters who said abortion was the most important issue to them voted overwhelmingly for Hassan, giving her 86% of their votes, compared with 13% for the Republican. Moderates supported Hassan to a wide extent, awarding her 63% of their votes.
Early exit polls found New Hampshire voters ranking inflation (37%) and abortion (35%) as the most important issues in the election. (Exit poll percentages may have updated since this article was published.)
Hassan was first elected to the Senate in 2016 by 0.1% of the vote after serving as New Hampshire governor since 2013.
Hassan portrayed herself on the campaign trail as a moderate Democrat willing to work across the aisle with Republicans to get things done and went after Bolduc as an extremist and election denier. She has maintained a lead in the polls, but the race has tightened as the campaign hit the final stretch.
Former President Donald Trump backed Bolduc last week.
Eran Ben-Porath contributed to this report.
The race
Throughout the campaign season, Hassan touted provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that aimed to bring down health care and prescription drug prices. She also focused on meeting with small businesses throughout the Granite State. On abortion, she warned that if they took the majority Republicans would pass a federal abortion ban.
While she had a record of voting with Democrats on nearly every issue including all of the major pieces of legislation passed since President Biden took office, Hassan on the campaign trail took a tougher stance on the border – calling for more border patrol, technology funding and even physical barriers. She also supported delaying the end of title 42, used to keep out asylum seekers during the coronavirus pandemic. This past spring, she made a visit to the southern border.
Bolduc, a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army, has attempted to cast himself as an independent outsider who would take on both parties in Washington if elected. But he has been known to take far-right positions in the past. Ahead of the election, he said he would not vote for Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader.
Bolduc eked out a win in the Sept. 13 primary, one of the final contests ahead of the general election, despite fierce opposition from several Republican groups and criticism from state GOP leaders. Most establishment Republicans backed his opponent, state senate president Chuck Morse. Republican governor Chris Sununu called Bolduc "not a serious candidate" over the summer. The White Mountain PAC, a Republican super PAC, spent $5 million backing Morse.
Just weeks before the general election, the Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund canceled $5.6 million in ad reservations for the final two weeks of the season. However, the National Republican Senatorial Committee jumped in just days later as did the Restoration PAC.
Bolduc has changed his position on whether the 2020 election was stolen numerous times and continued to float election integrity concerns even in the final weeks of the campaign. During the primary, he said the election was stolen from Trump, but after the primary he said it wasn't, then he said he did not know what happened.
At a debate less than two weeks before election day he spoke of baseless claims of buses of people coming to New Hampshire to vote, saying that's what Granite staters told him and it needs to be looked into.
Bolduc has has also made headlines for comments on abortion. During the general election season, Bolduc, who labels himself as "pro-life," said that the issue should be left up to states. In audio obtained by CBS News in October, Bolduc is heard stating at a town hall the issue of abortion belongs to "gentlemen" state legislators. In September, when discussing Hassan's focus on the overturning of federal abortion rights, Bolduc said to "get over it."