A special election will be held on Oct. 26 to fill a vacant seat in the Cheshire 9 District of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Andrew Maneval (D) and Rita Mattson (R) are facing off in the special election. Mattson advanced to the special election after defeating Lucille Decker in the Sept. 7 Republican primary with 83.2% of the vote. Maneval was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
The winner of the special election will serve until December 2022 and join Richard Ames (D) in representing the district. The seat became vacant after Douglas Ley (D) died from cancer on June 10. Ley had represented the district since 2012. He was re-elected in 2020 with 27.5% of the vote.
Heading into the special election, Republicans have a 207-188 majority in the New Hampshire House with five vacancies. New Hampshire has a Republican state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.
As of October, 64 state legislative special elections have been scheduled for 2021 in 21 states. Between 2011 and 2020, an average of 75 special elections took place each year. New Hampshire held 29 state legislative special elections from 2011 to 2020.
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