Concord's Colin Van Ostern Running For Secretary Of State

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New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has served 21 terms since 1976 and faces a serious challenge from Colin Van Ostern.

CONCORD, NH -- New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has served 21 terms since 1976, making him the longest-serving such official in the country. Gardner, who oversees elections, has frequently defended the state's first-in-the-nation primary status, sometimes by moving up the voting date or threatening to do so -- earning him the nickname "King Bill." The 70-year-old Gardner hasn't faced a serious challenge for his job in years -- until this year.

Concord's Colin Van Ostern, a 39-year-old former executive councilor who ran for governor, is running against Gardner this year and won a key endorsement Thursday. The new Democratic House majority backed Van Ostern over Gardner in a nonbinding vote, 179 to 23.

Gardner and Van Ostern are Democrats. State lawmakers elect the secretary of state every two years. This year's election is December 5.

Van Ostern has said if elected, he will conduct an audit of the secretary of state's office, modernize its website and hire a nonpartisan elections director.

"I know some pundits will say that this can’t be done -- that it’s impossible to take on the nation’s longest-serving secretary of state, a member of my own political party who has been in office since three years before I was born," Van Ostern said in a statement to WMUR when he launched his bid. "But I believe competition is good for our democracy, especially for this role."

Republicans leaders urged their party members to vote for Gardner.

"Bill Gardner has proven to our state that he can do his job without partisan motivations, and without the need to solicit donations from party activists," House Majority Leader Dick Hinch, a Merrimack Republican, said in a statement. "Republicans in the House will be standing with and voting for a person who has exhibited fairness and decency throughout his career in public service."

Gardner has said New Hampshire elections are among the most secure in the country. On November 6, Granite State voters set a turnout record for a midterm election.

"The more that come out, that’s what you want and that’s what you strive for," Gardner told the Valley News. "It’s always been my goal for us in New Hampshire to be at the top."

Photo credit: Holly Ramer/Associated Press (left) and Colin Van Ostern (right)