For the better part of a year, Governor Maggie Hassan and Incumbent Kelly Ayotte have been campaigning brutally in an attempt to gain an advantage in the polls which show them currently in a dead heat. Yet, this is not just politics as usual featuring a typical Senate race. For the first time in the history of New Hampshire, two women are vying for a U.S. Senate seat. Granted, in the past 70 years female versus female races have occurred only 14 times according to Rutgers University.

The Ayotte vs. Hassan election is also on track to break more state records with forty- four million dollars having been raised so far. The outcome of this particular election is vital to both parties because this could be the race which decides who has control of the Senate.

Kelly Ayotte was elected first to the Senate in 2010 and Kelly currently serves on the Armed Services, Budget, Commerce, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. She currently chairs the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Operations.

Hassan was elected Governor in 2012, and was sworn into office on January 3, 2013. Hassan won re-election on November 4, 2014 becoming the second female elected to be NH Governor after Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

Senator Kelly Ayotte, who is a Nashua native has been working hard to distance herself from the GOP at a time when many Republicans are refusing to vote for the Presidential nominee. Ayotte ditched her party by endorsing Barrack Obama’s clean power plan, backing paid sick leave, and giving same-sex couples full access to government benefits.

In the WMUR debate against Jim Rubens who was running against her in the primary, she even claimed that she believed climate change was caused by humans. But, she has still not verbally distanced herself from GOP nominee Donald Trump saying in August that “While he has my vote, he doesn’t have my endorsement.” And Maggie Hassan’s campaign has jumped on that statement understanding that it could be particularly influential. She released an ad right away saying that Kelly Ayotte was the only New England Senator who was still voting for Trump.

Many are feeling passionate about this race. Several Saint Anselm students wrote “Students for Kelly Ayotte” across campus in chalk. Junior Aiden Denehy bluntly stated that, “Maggie does not represent New Hampshire. She represents, in my opinion, the national hierarchy of the Democratic Party.”

Meanwhile, according to Sophomore English major Olivia Noble, “I’m voting for Maggie Hassan because she didn’t endorse Donald Trump.” The latest poll has Ayotte at 47.3 % with the Governor at 44.8 %, but this is a cycle where anything goes, and voters know to expect the unexpected.

The problem with this election is that the State’s most popular elected officials are running against each other. Senator Ayotte is a beloved junior Senator and Maggie Hassan has had some of this highest approval ratings as governor. Both women are trailblazers, educated from prominent colleges and former attorneys. Senator Kelly Ayotte and Governor Maggie Hassan are both qualified, there can be no question. Ultimately, this is going to be a race where every single vote matters as the latest WMUR poll recently found that 43% of voters haven’t fully decided on who they are picking.