Incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., raises her arms after claiming victory at a gathering with supporters, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. Shaheen faced Republican businessman Corky Messner. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Democrat Jeanne Shaheen defeated Republican Corky Messner on Tuesday, becoming only the second New Hampshire Democrat to win a third U.S. Senate term.

During the campaign, Shaheen contrasted her long tenure in public service in the state to Messner’s recent arrival, touting her record of working across party lines to make a difference for New Hampshire families. She emphasized her efforts to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, secure funding to fight the opioid crisis and improve veterans’ access to health care, and said her future priorities include protecting the Affordable Care Act and addressing climate change.

Messner, who has lived in New Hampshire for about two years, is a U.S. Army veteran and attorney who founded a Denver-based law firm with offices in five states. Though he aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump and won his endorsement in his primary, Messner also cast himself as independent thinker who wouldn’t be beholden to his party. He criticized Shaheen as a career politician and said he offered both an outsider’s perspective as well as experience creating jobs and navigating bureaucracies.

Shaheen, who served three terms as governor starting in 1997, was the first woman elected governor of New Hampshire and the first woman in U.S. history to have served as both governor and U.S. senator. The only other Democrat to be reelected to the Senate for a third term from New Hampshire was Thomas McIntyre in 1972.

Libertarian Justin O’Donnell also was on the ballot.

Two of the four members of the all-Democratic delegation remain up for reelection: 1st District Rep. Chris Pappas and 2nd District Rep. Annie Kuster. While the state has been represented only by Democrats in Washington for the last four years, Republicans held some of the seats before that, and the 1st District in particular had swung back and forth between the parties.

As it did for the September primary, the coronavirus pandemic significantly changed both the process of campaigning and voting. Safety precautions are in place at the polls, and anyone with concerns about the virus was allowed to vote by absentee ballot.

Secretary of State Bill Gardner on Monday said he expects more than 800,000 ballots to be cast, surpassing the record of 755,850 set in 2016. As of Tuesday morning, more than 235,000 absentee ballots had been returned to city and town clerks.

On Tuesday, the state’s Joint Information Center said there were long lines at some polling stations across New Hampshire but no signs of problems. Some towns required masks at the polling stations and voters were given pens to fill in their ballots. Plastic shields divided voters from the people checking them in at several locations.

Daniel Brisson, 77, who voted for President Donald Trump in Manchester, said he had no concerns about voting in person and that he had trust in the election results.

“Whomever wins the vote, that is it. He is the president whether you like it or not,” he said. “He is our president and you have got to live with it.”

In the 1st District, Pappas faces Republican Matt Mowers as he seeks a second term. Pappas, a former state lawmaker whose family runs a popular restaurant in Manchester, spent much of the campaign playing up his bipartisan credentials and his work on behalf of veterans. President Donald Trump endorsed Mowers, who briefly worked in his administration’s State Department.

The 2nd District features a rematch between Kuster, who is seeking a fifth term, and Republican Steve Negron. During the campaign, Kuster emphasized her work in Congress to help pass the $2 trillion CARES Act that provided emergency relief during the pandemic and her advocacy for frontline workers. Negron, who runs a defense engineering and consulting firm in Nashua, is a conservative who supports Trump.

Trump, who faces Democrat Joe Biden, narrowly lost New Hampshire to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Further down the ballot, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu defeated Democrat Dan Feltes for a third term. Voters also will elect 400 members of the state House and 24 members of the Senate.

Mukhtar Idhow, a 35-year-old immigrant in Manchester, said coming out to vote was a chance to exercise a right he never had in his native Somalia. Idhow, who said he voted for Biden, wasn’t concerned about the election being undermined by one candidate or the other.

“It is not up to Trump or Biden. It is up to the American people,” he said. “We have rules and laws in the country. No matter what they say, the American people will recognize who the right winner is,” he said.