Voters across the Upper Valley cast ballots in a bitterly contested presidential election Tuesday, and despite the challenges facing the Twin States most said the choice between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump was the biggest factor motivating them to get to the polls.

“Not Trump, front and center,” Donald Corken, a 64-year-old Strafford landscaper, said after voting at the Strafford Town House.

The stark difference between Harris, a Democat, and Trump, a Republican, left community-minded voters unsure whether to even say who they supported. And voters for the two party standard-bearers expressed concern about entirely different issues — the economy for Trump voters and reproductive rights and democratic norms for Harris voters.

For some,nothing but blue

Andi Diehn, 49, turned out to vote with her husband, Mike, 57, who chairs the Enfield Zoning Board. The couple said they voted “blue all the way.”

Andi Diehn, a writer, said she was motivated to vote for Harris in part to ensure “the future of democracy in America.”

“Democracy,” also was the top issue for retired public school educators Charlie Reibel and Roger Maynard, both of Norwich, who voted for Kamala Harris.

“My concern is my grandkids,” said Maynard, 78. “It’s hard for me not to despair, but I’m trying to be hopeful.”

“I’m voting for the women in my life,” said Norwich resident Tommy Botch, 28, who voted for Harris.

“I have four sisters and a lot of female-identifying friends and they should have the right to choose what to do with their bodies,” said Dartmouth student Presley Coon who voted in Hanover for Harris and fellow Democrats Joyce Craig, for governor, and Maggie Goodlander, for Congress. “I voted for women straight down the line.”

Nicole Woods, 31, a graduate of Woodsville High School who has a masters degree from Southern New Hampshire University and works in emergency medical system management, said that as a mother of four “we think a lot about reproductive health” and “keeping families and people safe.”

Holding her 8-month-old daughter, Josie, at the polls in Haverhill, Woods said her other priorities are education and equal rights.

“We have a lot of friends and family members in the LGBTQIA+ community and what’s really important for us is that our families and friends are safe,” said Woods, who fears that would not be the case under a Trump presidency.

“I hope I can tell my grandchildren that I was on the right side of history. There is a lot more at stake in this election than taxes and gun freedom,” Woods added.

“I’m super stoked,” said Dartmouth student Jack Haubold, 19, who cast his first vote in a presidential race for Harris. “It filled me with a lot of pride to be able to vote today.”

Patrick Delaney, 64, arrived at the Haverhill polls on an e-bike with an American flag flying on a pole and a boombox playing “Hail to the Chief.” The most important issue for him is “our inalienable rights and I don’t want them to be taken away from us,” which he believes would happen under Trump and is why he voted for Harris, said Delaney, who moved from Queens, N.Y., two years ago.

“A big thing for me is abortion. I don’t think you should put God in government. The government is not God,” he said. “Our whole country and livelihoods depends on this vote. It’s never been as important as this.”

Rylea Emerson, 21, of Haverhill, said this was the first time she voted in an election and the reason for her was simple. “My reproductive rights. The abortion issue is very important for me,” which is why Emerson said she voted for Harris.

“I’m definitely voting to keep our democracy,” Orford dairy farmer Karen Tullar, 70, said leaving the polling station. “This has been the motivation for me being here today,” adding that rising property taxes are a secondary issue.

She voted for Harris, Tullar said, whose candidacy embodies what she hopes to see for future generations. “We have a large family, lots of children and grandchildren” and voting for Harris and against Trump means “making the world a better place for them.”

The Israel-Hamas war led some voters to back Harris reservedly, and some to turn away from her.

Dartmouth student Brendan Brophy, whose top issue this election is “the genocide in Palestine,” said he was feeling “cynical” about the outcome. “It’s going to be pretty unfortunate either way,” he said. Brophy cast his first presidential vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate.

“What we’re doing to support Israel is immoral,” said Norwich resident Sarah Reeves, 85. Reeves said she considered not supporting Harris over her “militarism” but ultimately decided to vote for her.

Sharon resident Jill Wilcox said she considered voting for Stein, but views voting as a transactional, not idealistic. She voted for Harris. “While both candidates fail on what I’d like to see them do ... Trump has a track record of being absolutely horrific on the Middle East,” Wilcox said.

Newport voter Lucy Wells, a 76-year-old writer who spent decades working in journalism, voted for Harris “because I’m a woman and Kamala speaks to me and because Trump’s an ass and always will be.”

Jennifer Waite, of Hartland, voted for Harris, but thinks that “the most important thing is that everybody participates,” she said.

Windsor resident Ethan Lawrence volunteered his time to put up signs for several Democratic candidates early Tuesday morning outside the Windsor municipal building.

He’s found the incivility in the local and national political climate lately to be “unacceptable,” he said.

Lawrence, whose father was a refugee from El Salvador, is particularly concerned about the language that some candidates have used to describe immigrants, which he calls “demonizing.”

“They are Vermonters. They are our neighbors,” he said.

Gesturing to signs for several Democratic candidates, he added that “kindness is on the ballot this year.”

The partisan vitriol of the national election left some voters unwilling to state plainly who they voted for.

“I think our economy’s in the garbage right now,” Ashley Kelley, 30, of South Royalton, said. She lives in a household comprising her husband, their children ages 5 and 12, and her father-in-law, and paying the bills is a struggle. She didn’t want to say how she voted for president.

“This is the first time I’ve voted, ever,” said Kirstin Waterman, 34, of South Royalton. “I just felt like I need to have a say.” Inflation and the housing crisis are the two issues she’s most concerned about. Asked who’s best qualified to fix those problems, she said, “I’d rather not comment on that.”

Divided andchanging loyalties

Some voters split their tickets or voted against a party of longstanding preference.

Exiting the polling station in the Old Church Building in Piermont, Whitney Perry, 41, and her husband, Joe Perry, 53, who run a nonprofit horse rescue sanctuary in town, said they just wanted the country to move past the divisiveness of the past three presidential elections.

Whitney Perry, declining to identify which candidate she voted for, said the most important issue for her was to pick the one who she believes is committed to “bringing some unity and peacefulness again to our country,” followed by “employment and wages.”

Joe Perry, said he “has a similar attitude” as his wife and “we want to move beyond the chaos,” volunteering that despite being an independent and having voted for candidates of both parties in the past, this time he “voted blue straight down.”

“I have voted for many Republicans over the years. Not this year,” he said, adding “we have to have faith in the process. We have an excellent process.

Steven Patten, of Enfield, voted for Kelly Ayotte, the Republican candidate for governor, and Harris. Patten, a Vietnam veteran, said he voted for Harris “because Trump is a draft dodger.”

“He runs his mouth too much,” Patten, 74, who owns an excavation company, added about Trump. “He’s a draft dodger and he’s only friends with the veterans when he needs their votes.”

Nancy Ferland, 73, of Bethel, voted for Harris, but for Republicans in Vermont races. “I don’t want Trump to be president again,” she said. “And I don’t like the way the state of Vermont is going.”

Caroline and Joe Barrett, both 29 and from Plainfield, voted for Harris for president and primarily Republicans down the rest of the ticket.

Caroline explained that while she grew up in a relatively conservative family, as she has gotten older she has come to see the environment as one of her most important issues.

“I’m still a little conflicted, but I did vote for (Harris) based on her environmental policies,” she said.

In the New Hampshire governor’s race, Caroline added that she voted for Ayotte largely because she was endorsed by Gov. Chris Sununu.

Joe Barrett, who serves active duty in the military, said many of the senior officers and officials he respects don’t support Trump.

“I can’t support (Trump) when a lot of the leaders in this country don’t,” he said.

Economy on Republican voters’ minds

William Chase, a 73-year-old Enfield resident who owns a small manufacturing business in Portland, Maine, cast his ballot for Trump and all other Republicans on the ballot.

“I know what his policies are,” Chase said about Trump. “I think half the public is voting for Trump and the other half is voting against Trump” instead of voting for Harris.

Newport independent Molly Winn, 32, voted for Trump and Ayotte. She said she voted for Trump “because I feel that he is the president for the people,” she said.

Claremont resident Kristen Doslop, who is in her 40s and works at Hannaford, said she voted for Trump Tuesday after voting for Joe Biden in 2020. “I never would’ve thought I would’ve voted for him ever,” Doslop said about Trump after voting Tuesday.

Her top concerns are the economy and high prices of food and gas. “I hope I made the right decision this time,” she added.

Keith McElreavy, 59, of Newport, voted for all Republicans, including Trump, also because of inflation.

McElreavy, a contractor, said his vote was also motivated by the U.S. involvement in the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

“I’d like to see us not financially supporting the wars,” he said.

Ray Hamel, a 67-year-old retired carpenter from South Royalton, said his vote for Trump was based on pocketbook issues.

“Everything’s too damn expensive,” he said. As a retiree, “I gotta really watch what I spend.”

If any candidate could improve the economy, “it would probably be Trump,” Hamel added.

Hamel also voted for Republican candidates in state and local races. “When I first came here 35 years ago, it was a reasonable place to live,” he said.

Windsor resident Apryl Bruder, who waits tables at the Windsor Diner, said she isn’t a particular fan of either presidential candidate, but voted for Trump. “I don’t like him as a person,” she said, but “my life was easier financially when Trump was president.”

Many voters spoke to the lingering anxiety they’ve been feeling in the lead up to Election Day.

“It feels like the whole world is on their tippy toes waiting to see what will happen,” Bruder said.

Valley News Staff Writers Chris Dolan, Clare Shanahan, Emma Roth-Wells, Liz Sauchelli, John Lippman and Alex Hanson contributed to this story.