State reference

How does government work in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

424

State legislators

Legislature

2 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: New Hampshire Constitution source
In effect since: 1784 source

What may surprise you here

The state House has 400 members, far more than the lower chamber in most states. source
The governor serves a two-year term and is elected at every state general election. source

Legislature

Name: General Court source
Senate: seats: 24 source
Senate: term in years: 2 source
House of Representatives: seats: 400 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 2 source
Term limit: None source
Next regular election: 2028 source
Lieutenant governor: no such office source
Attorney general: nominated and appointed by the governor and Executive Council source
Secretary of state: chosen by legislature source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 2 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: None source
Main trial court: Superior Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: gubernatorial appointment source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 10 source
Cities and towns: New Hampshire has 13 municipal governments (cities) and 221 town governments, as of the 2022 Census of Governments. source
Schools: New Hampshire has 166 independent school districts, and 10 more school systems are dependent on county or city governments (2022 Census of Governments). source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Primary type: mixed: open to unaffiliated voters (a party may let undeclared voters take its ballot) source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Kelly Ayotte Republican, in office since January 9, 2025. source

US senators for New Hampshire
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Margaret Wood Hassan	Democratic	Class 3	January 3, 2017	January 3, 2029
Jeanne Shaheen	Democratic	Class 2	January 6, 2009	January 3, 2027

Members of the House for New Hampshire
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Chris Pappas	Democratic	January 3, 2019
District 2	Maggie Goodlander	Democratic	January 3, 2025

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 2