NEWSWEEK
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have tied in the remote district of Dixville Notch, which could be bad news for the Democratic presidential candidate, if past results are anything to go by.
But it wasn’t all good news for Trump, as one of the six voters spoke out against the Republican candidate.
The US-Canada border New Hampshire community opened and closed its poll after midnight, a tradition that dates back to the 1960s. In the final result, Harris and Trump had three votes each.
The town is not historically representative of how New Hampshire will vote, or who will eventually take the White House. But, in the last two elections the Democrats have decisively carried Dixville Notch—meaning Harris’ tie marks a sharp break with recent results.
The sample size was six people—four Republicans and two independents. But one of the Republicans broke for Harris. Speaking before the vote, registered Republican Les explained why he was breaking with Trump.
“Nowhere in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say anything about pledging your allegiance to a person. And I think at the end of the day, Trump has made it clear that you need to pledge allegiance to him, and he alone can fix this, and that is as antidemocratic as I can understand,” Otten told CNN. He added that he had been a Republican ever since he was seven years old.
Newsweek has emailed the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump 4-2 in the town’s election. She then went on to carry the state of New Hampshire 47.6 percent to Trump’s 47.2 percent. Clinton, however, did not go on to win the White House.
Four years later, the Democrats also carried Dixville Notch when Biden decisively beat Trump 5-0.
In the GOP primary in January, Dixville Notch decisively voted for South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who eventually dropped out of the race after losing every state but Vermont on Super Tuesday.
The residents of Dixville Notch also cast their votes for the Governor of New Hampshire, with five votes going to Republican nominee Kelly Ayotte and one vote to Democrat Joyce Craig.
As per tradition, Dixville Notch is the first to declare its election results, achieving the honor since 1960. According to The Associated Press, the tradition of early voting in the town was introduced to accommodate railroad workers who did not have time to vote in the normal working day.
The community operates under a state law that allows it to declare the election over if all registered voters have cast their ballot. The polls open just after midnight on election day, and soon after, the results are then tallied and publicly announced.
In the remainder of the state, polls appear to agree that Harris will win New Hampshire, which has four Electoral College votes.
Using polling, economic and demographic data FiveThirtyEight says that Harris wins New Hampshire 88 times out of 100 in election simulations.
However the New Hampshire margin has narrowed between Harris and Trump in recent days. RealClearPolling, who previously said it was “leans Democrat,” now deems it a “toss up.”
The last Republican to win New Hampshire was George W. Bush in 2000, beating Al Gore 48.1 percent to 46.8 percent.
