General Court of New Hampshire
| General Court of New Hampshire | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses |
Senate House |
| Leadership | |
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Senate Majority Leader
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House Majority Leader
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| Structure | |
| Seats | 424 24 senators 400 representatives |
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Political groups
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Political groups
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| Elections | |
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Last election
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November 8, 2016 |
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Last election
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November 8, 2016 |
| Meeting place | |
| New Hampshire State House | |
| Website | |
| gencourt |
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The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 members.
On November 2, 2010, the New Hampshire General Court returned to Republican party control with 19-5 in the Senate and 298-104 in the House. But on November 6, 2012, the Democrats managed to retake the House of Representatives with a 221-179 majority, while the Senate remained in Republican control, 13-11. However, in 2014 control of the House flipped once more to Republicans with a 238-160 majority. The General Court convenes in the New Hampshire State House in downtown Concord.
The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 districts across the state created from divisions of the state's counties, each making up about 3,000 residents for every one legislator. If the same level of representation were present in Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives would have approximately 99,000 members, according to current population estimates.
Unlike many legislative chambers, there is no central "aisle" to cross. Instead there are five sections with aisles between them. Party seating location is not enforced, as seating is often decided on the personal preference of the legislator, except in the case of the sixth section, which is the speaker's seat at the head of the hall.
Historically, the House was dominated by the Republican Party, which held a 249–151 majority at the end of the 2004-6 session. However, even with this 98-vote majority, the Republicans were often divided between the more conservative House Republican Alliance and moderates known as the Main Street Republicans. The division was approximately 141 voting along HRA lines and 110 voting along Main Street lines if the difference is considered to be the 50% line of the HRA's 2004 scorecard. However, in the 2006 election, the Democrats swept into control of the chamber and held a majority for four years. In November 2010, Republicans won by landslides in both the House and the Senate. In 2012, Democrats again took control of the House of Representatives, with a larger majority than between 2006-2010.
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Wikipedia