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New Hampshire General Court

General Court of New Hampshire
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Houses Senate
House
Leadership
Chuck Morse (R)
Since September 3, 2013
Senate Majority Leader
Jeb Bradley (R)
Since December 1, 2010
Shawn Jasper (R)
Since December 3, 2014
House Majority Leader
Richard Hinch (R)
Since November 5, 2015
Structure
Seats 424
24 senators
400 representatives
Senate Diagram State of New Hampshire 2014.svg
Political groups
House of Representatives Diagram State of New Hampshire 2014.svg
Political groups
Elections
Last election
November 8, 2016
Last election
November 8, 2016
Meeting place
New Hampshire State House
Website
gencourt.state.nh.us

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 in many legislation halls, 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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