Democrats won both of the final two special elections for the 2023-2024 term in the New Hampshire House on Tuesday, though they remain several seats shy of reclaiming a majority in the 400-member chamber.
Erik Johnson won a seat representing Lee, Madbury, and Dover’s Ward 4 in Strafford County, and Jennifer Mandelbaum won a seat representing Newington and Portsmouth’s Ward 1 in Rockingham County, according to unofficial results.
Johnson and Mandelbaum prevailed over Republicans Joseph E. Bazo and Carol A. Bush, respectively.
Once the newly elected members are sworn in, there will be 201 Republicans, 195 Democrats, two independents who used to be Democrats, and two vacancies that will remain unfilled for the remainder of the year.
So the current term will likely end much like it began, with Republicans clinging to an incredibly slim advantage that leaves both parties ever mindful of their attendance rates, since a handful of absences on any given session day could make or break a party-line vote.
Representative Laura Telerski of Nashua, who chairs the House Democratic Victory Campaign Committee, said both Johnson and Mandelbaum will protect access to abortion and in vitro fertilization, lower property taxes, and fund public schools. Their wins on Tuesday show that voters “reject the attack on our rights and freedoms being pushed by New Hampshire Republicans,” she said.
Telerski said Democrats are “on the brink of the majority” and are looking ahead to the November election.
“Our caucus is strong, our campaign is firing on all cylinders, and we fully intend to flip the House this fall,” she added.
Representative Ross Berry of Manchester, vice chairman of the Committee to Elect House Republicans, said GOP leaders have kept their promises to New Hampshire voters by focusing on policies that “put parents first, lower taxes, and keep spending under control.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have been “fear mongering” for years and are talking more about Alabama’s ruling on embryos and “palace intrigue” in Washington, D.C., than about their own state, Berry said.
“Granite Staters are smart and will not fall for the same old Democrat tricks,” he added, “which will lead to expanded Republican majorities after November.”
Democrats won seven of this term’s nine special elections in the House, but they also had five of the eight resignations and both deaths. Two members left the Democratic caucus to serve as independents, and one defected to the Republican Party.
Republicans won two special elections that coincided with the Jan. 23 presidential primary, which helped to drive GOP voter turnout. They are poised to finish out the term with a slightly wider margin than they had on Organization Day.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.