New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte conceded her Senate race against New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan on Wednesday afternoon, in one of the tightest races of the election.
Hassan’s victory over Ayotte, a Republican, gave the Democrats a critical Senate seat to bring them near even in the body of Congress.
In the latest RealClearPolitics polling average, Ayotte led Hassan by 1.5 points.
But data-journalism outlet FiveThirtyEight gave Hassan a very slight edge over Ayotte, projecting the New Hampshire governor has a 52.7% chance of victory on Tuesday.
Ayotte, a one-term senator, has been frequently pushed on her support for Republican nominee Donald Trump. She's backed away from the party's nominee in recent weeks following the release of a leaked "Access Hollywood" tape that showed him boasting of being able to make unwanted sexual advances on women because he was famous. She previously walked back a statement that Trump was a role-model.
Hassan, a two-term governor, had been hit with a campaign finance controversy during her stint as governor. In August, she had refused to say in an interview with CNN whether she thought Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was trustworthy. Her campaign later clarified that she did find Clinton to be honest, and the two have campaigned with each other when the former secretary of state made trips to New Hampshire.
