title: no title
text: maggie hassan left and kelly ayotte hassan declares victory in us senate race with ayotte by paul feelynew hampshire union leader update  am gov maggie hassan declared shes won new hampshires us senate race unseating republican sen kelly ayotteduring a hastilycalled press conference outside the state house hassan said shes ahead now by enough votes to survive returns from the few outstanding towns that are lefti am proud to stand here as the next united states senator from new hampshire hassan said to cheers from a large group of supporters led by congresswoman annie kuster and hassans husband tomthe twoterm governor said she hadnt spoken with ayotteits clear we have maintained the lead in and have won this race hassan saidsen ayotte issued a brief statement after hassans event but did not concede and deferred to secretary of state bill gardners final resultsthis has been a closely contested race from the beginning and we look forward to results being announced by the secretary of state and ensuring that every vote is counted in this race that has received an historic level of interest ayotte saidhassan said she called to congratulate govelect chris sununu a newfields republican and vowed to work together on a smooth transition of power in the states corner officewith  percent of the vote counted hassan led ayotte a nashua republican by  votes or much less than  percent there were only two voting precincts left to reporta recount of this statewide race seems like a real possibility the margin is small enough that ayotte will not have to pay for it an earlier story follows concord  republican incumbent sen kelly ayotte told supporters early wednesday she is feeling really upbeat about her chances in one of the most closely watched  and expensive  us senate races in the country but wasnt ready to claim victory over democratic challenger gov maggie hassan to earn a return to washington representing the granite stateat  am ayotte took to the podium at the grappone conference center in concord to address supporters at her victory party in a dead heat with hassan  percent to  percent or  votes to  votes with  percent of precincts in the state reportingjoe and i are so excited to see all of you her tonight said ayotte we feel really upbeat tonightayotte went on to thank supporters and our next gov sununuwe know how hard you have all worked we are so grateful we are humbled by the fact that you would believe in us right now we are very upbeat about where this race is but i believe strongly in the fact that we want to have every vote in before we come out and talk to you every vote matters because every person matters in this stategov hassan said while the race was too close to call the campaign maintained a  vote lead according to numbers compiled by her staffwe still have a small but sustainable lead she saidhassan told the crowd that a number of smaller towns had yet to report numbers but was confident the lead would hold the campaign said its numbers show hassan has a vote of  to ayottes  in over  percent of vote the campaign said these numbers include results from big communities the associated press had yet to count like salem derry lebanon and portsmouth the cities of manchester nashua and concord are included in the hassan numbersthe governor headed home for the night and urged supporters to go home and get some sleepelection day  marked the end of a long campaign cycle in the granite state that kicked off nine months ago with the presidential primaries nine months ago and didnt let up until the final ballots were cast around  pm tuesdaythe ayottehassan contest the most expensive political race ever in new hampshire with over  million spent took center stage this cycle alongside the presidential race between republican nominee donald trump and democratic nominee hillary clinton cementing new hampshires status as a battleground state with its four electoral votes up for grabs the race is one of about a half dozen around the us being closely watched on tuesday with the outcome likely playing a part in deciding if the republicans retain control of the senate or if democrats regain the majority they lost two years agoit has been a great night for republicans not just in new hampshire but across the country said nh gop chair jennifer horn in new hampshire we know that when republicans stand together when republicans fight together we win