Sign up here to receive The Yappie’s weekly briefing on Asian American + Pacific Islander politics and support our work by making a donation.
The history of New Hampshire’s political landscape has undergone drastic changes in the 59 presidential elections this country has seen. The country’s fifth-smallest state holds four electoral votes and, now, the reputation of a swing state.
From the Republican Party’s formation up until 1988, the state backed Republicans in almost every presidential election. Starting in the early 1990s, voters began to lean more Democratic.
Though Vice President Kamala Harris is favored to win the state, it’s still considered a potential battleground state due to tight margins in previous election cycles.
Voter demographics
With 30,988 eligible AAPI voters, AAPIs comprise 2.77% of the New Hampshire electorate, according to a 2024 report from AAPI Data.
Of the state’s eligible AAPI voters, 31.5% are voters 50 or older and 28.2% are between 18 to 29 years old.
Indian Americans are the largest AAPI ethnic group at 11,615, followed by 10,056 Chinese Americans and 6,446 Filipino Americans. Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese Americans follow—their numbers hovering around 4,000.
AAPI voter eligibility in the state grew significantly from 2012 to 2022 by 58.75%, yet voter contact continues to fall short.
Of contacted AAPI registered voters, 44% reporting outreach from Democrats, 35% from Republicans and 39% from community groups. 37% of registered AAPI voters do not identify with either party. Language barriers and assistance proved to be an issue of the state’s AAPI voters.
What we’re watching: Hillsborough and Rockingham counties, which have the highest AAPI populations.
In the campaigns
- Trump held five rallies in New Hampshire as a part of his primary election route this January. He discussed the Southern border and reinvigorating the economy.
- Harris’ visits saw her touting her plan to expand tax incentives for small businesses and briefly touching on the need for gun control in the wake of a recent school shooting in Georgia.
- Her campaign has more than 100 paid staff members and 17 field offices in New Hampshire, while Trump’s campaign has its headquarters in Manchester and remote locations in Campton and Rochester.
- Closing in on Election Day, the state has been a stop for both campaigns. In October, President Joe Biden stopped by Concord to highlight the administration’s efforts to lower health care costs and reiterate the stakes of this election.
- Just two days before Election Day, vice presidential candidate JD Vance held a rally in Derry in a bid to flip the state, which Biden won in 2020. He predicted a Trump victory in New Hampshire and told voters this campaign is “expanding the map” compared to past presidential races. “I believe that in two days we’re going to turn New Hampshire red and make Donald Trump the next president of the United States,” the Ohio senator said.
On the ground
Throughout the months leading up to the election, grassroots organizations hosted a string of events to bolster civic engagement.
The New Hampshire Democratic Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus led a New Hampshire AANHPI for Harris Weekend of Action in partnership with South Asians for Harris in late September and held door-knocking drives with the New Hampshire Democratic Latino Caucus.
A July poll from Saint Anselm College Survey Center found Harris (50%) holding a six-point lead over former President Donald Trump (44%) among registered voters in New Hampshire. Harris’ favorability rating was also significantly higher than President Joe Biden’s rating the previous month.
That said, more people cast votes in the state’s GOP primary than in any previous presidential primary for either party in the state’s history, according to the Associated Press.
In their words
Ben Ming, a Democratic member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, is the first Asian American to hold office in the state and is now running for election to the state Senate. “Wasn’t sure I’d ever see a day where I vote for an Asian American for president of the United States,” he told the Granite Post earlier this year. “It is both a lot of pride that I feel but also a great amount of responsibility.”
Lily Tang Williams is running for Congress in New Hampshire as a Republican and has grown frustrated with Biden’s policies and believes American ideals have been under attack by the Democratic Party. She says U.S. politics are not cherishing “common ground,” and instead are more divisive than they ever have been. “As immigrants, we love this country,” she told Kyodo News. “We are losing American ideals. We are losing the American dream.”
The Yappie is your must-read briefing on AAPI power, politics, and influence, fiscally sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Association. Make a donation, subscribe, and follow us on Twitter (@theyappie). Send tips and feedback to editors@theyappie.com.
