DONALD WHO?:

Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan won a second term representing New Hampshire on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Don Bolduc to keep a seat once viewed as ripe for a GOP pickup.

Hassan, a former governor, had been considered vulnerable given her narrow win in 2016. But her odds improved after popular Gov. Chris Sununu took a pass at challenging her, and Republicans nominated Bolduc, a retired Army general who has espoused conspiracy theories about vaccines and the 2020 presidential election.

Sen. Maggie Hassan handily won re-election over retired Gen. Don Bolduc by about 10 points, garnering 54 percent of the vote.

As the Washington Post's Henry Olsen noted this weekend, "With the notable exceptions of Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), no Senate candidate since 2014 has run more than five points ahead of the job approval rating of their party's president."

Hassan is on course to outpace Biden's 40 percent approval number by nearly 15 points.

In the First Congressional District, Republican Karoline Leavitt looked like a strong challenger, and polls consistently showed a neck-and-neck race with Rep. Chris Pappas in the polls. Instead, she trailed the incumbent by eight points, failing even to match the performance of fellow Republican Matt Mowers when he challenged Pappas two years ago.

And the Republican retreat reached down to the state house, too. Late Tuesday night, the GOP was in danger of losing control of the House and shrinking its majority in the state Senate.

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