NH Lawmakers To Elect Next Secretary Of State

CONCORD, NH -- New Hampshire could have a new secretary of state this week for the first time in 42 years. Bill Gardner -- the longest-serving secretary of state in the country -- is running for his 22nd term against Colin Van Ostern. Lawmakers will choose a candidate Wednesday; the race was too close too call.

Gardner, 70, earned the nickname "King Bill" for protecting New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status.

"You can never depend on someone else to protect this primary," Gardner told a gathering of new lawmakers in Concord last week.

Van Ostern, of Concord, is a 39-year-old former executive councilor who ran for governor. He won a key endorsement last month when the new Democratic House majority backed him over Gardner in a straw poll, 179 to 23.

Gardner and Van Ostern are Democrats. Republicans are rallying behind Gardner.

"This will be the only time that you'll ever hear me endorsing a Democrat," said Steve Stepanek, a Republican running for state GOP chair, according to New Hampshire Public Radio. "Bill Gardner is the guardian of the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary."

Some new lawmakers believe Gardner's tenure has stretched too long.

"We have an outdated office," Nicole Klein, a Manchester Democrat, told WMUR. "There needs to be some fresh involvement."

Van Ostern said if elected, he will conduct an audit of the secretary of state's office, modernize its website and hire a nonpartisan elections director.

"I know some pundits will say that this can't be done -- that it's impossible to take on the nation's longest-serving secretary of state, a member of my own political party who has been in office since three years before I was born," Van Ostern said in a statement to WMUR when he launched his bid. "But I believe competition is good for our democracy, especially for this role."

Gardner attracted some criticism from Democrats when he served on President Trump's "voter fraud" panel on the 2016 presidential election. Trump lost New Hampshire to Hillary Clinton and claimed it was because of "thousands" of illegal voters who were bused in from Massachusetts. The panel was disbanded and a former member said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

During the secretary of state election, all 400 state representatives and 24 state senators will vote. The candidate with the most votes wins. Democrats hold a 233 to 167 majority in the House and 14 to 10 majority in the Senate.

Photo credits: Holly Ramer/Associated Press (left) and Colin Van Ostern (right)