The national and local midterm elections took place on Nov. 6, including the race between nominees for congressional district and New Hampshire governor.

For governor, Chris Sununu won another term defeating democratic challenger Molly Kelly. Chris Pappas was elected for a first term for the District 1 U.S. House of Representative, defeating Republican Eddie Edwards, and Annie Kuster kept her spot in District 2.

Also, Pappas is now New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress.

Despite Sununu, a Republican, remaining governor, the Democrats now have the majority New Hampshire’s House and Senate.

PA English teacher and Pembroke resident, Ms. Ficken said she focused a lot on her local House of Representative members, Dianne Schuett and David Doherty.

“I was never as involved until I was a union representative last year for the first time,” she said. “You start to realize these are the people who are voting for your area, so those are the people who impact you the most. You have to really think about that local connection.”

For some PA seniors, this election was the first time they voted.

“I’m glad that the Democrats were able to take over the House because I think they’ll be a good step towards making the country even more progressive,” said senior Autumn Grabas, who recently turned 18 years old.

Senior Madison Dwyer said the experience of voting was a satisfying one.

“It felt very strange to be doing something my parents usually do,” she said. “I felt like my political opinion mattered and I was proud of myself for doing something like that.”