New Hampshire becomes first state with woman governor, all-female congressional delegation

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

New Hampshire on Tuesday became the first state to elect a woman governor and an all-female congressional delegation.

Democrat Maggie Hassan, the former majority leader of the state Senate, beat Republican Ovide Lamontagne in the race to succeed Governor John Lynch.

In House races, former Representative Carol Shea-Porter and attorney Ann McLane Kuster, both Democrats, won their contests with Republican incumbents Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass, respectively.

The Granite State already had two female senators, Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

Hassan painted Lamontagne as an extreme conservative and in her victory speech cast herself as a bridge builder. The state legislature will be divided fairly evenly after Tuesday’s results.

“We should see this not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to move beyond the partisan divide,” Hassan said.

The races between Shea-Porter and Guinta and Kuster and Bass were rematches of 2010 -- and the results flipped. Shea-Porter reclaimed the seat she lost two years ago, and Kuster ousted Bass after failing to beat him in the previous election, when they competed for the seat vacated by Paul Hodes, who mounted an unsuccessful Senate bid that year.