All five seats on New Hampshire’s Executive Council will be voted on Tuesday, as Democrats try to regain control of the important chamber from the current Republican majority.

The council, a part of the executive branch whose members are directly elected by voters, has the power to approve or deny the governor’s judicial nominations, state agency appointments, and major department spending requests and contracts.

The chamber is currently controlled by Republicans, 4-1. Democrats have sought to draw attention to a series of votes in which Republican council members blocked hundreds of thousands of dollars in state contracts for Planned Parenthood after Republicans raised objections to the organization for offering abortions. Republicans say maintaining control of the House will allow them to act as a check on excessive state spending.

Some of the five seats have incumbents seeking re-election, while others are open.

In District 1, which covers much of the North Country and cities including Berlin, Rochester, Dover and Laconia, Republican Joseph Kenney, a former state representative and U.S. Marine, is seeking re-election after holding the seat in three of the last four elections. since 2016. His opponent is Emmett Soldati, a Democrat and owner of Teatotaller Café, who previously ran for the District 2 Executive Council seat in 2020.

District 2 is the only district currently held by a Democrat, Cinde Warmington, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor, lost to Joyce Craig in September, and who cannot run for re-election. Seeking to keep the seat in Democratic hands is Karen Liot Hill, former Lebanon mayor and current Lebanon City Council member, who is running against Republican Kim Strathdee, an accountant and tax expert who ran for the seat three times. previously. The district covers much of the northwest and southwest of the state, including Keene, Concord, Lebanon, Plymouth and Lincoln.

In District 3, which covers the southeastern-most corner of the state, Republican incumbent Janet Stevens, a former small business owner and president of JL Stevens & Associates, a marketing firm, is seeking to win re-election against former state Sen. Jon. Morgan, a Democrat. Morgan is a former Department of Defense contractor who now works for a Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity company. The district includes Portsmouth, Derry and Salem.

District 4 is an open seat held by Republican Ted Gatsas, former mayor of Manchester, who is not running for re-election. The district, which includes Manchester and Bedford, is being contested by Jim O’Connell, a Democrat and founder of a cybersecurity company, and John Stephen, a Republican consultant who served as commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services. 2003 to 2007.

And in District 5, Republican Dave Wheeler is seeking to keep a seat he has held for seven of 12 terms since 2001. Wheeler, a maple syrup and Christmas tree producer, faces former Democratic state Sen. Melanie Levesque, chairwoman from communications consulting firm TCS of America Enterprises, in a district that includes Nashua, Weare, Richmond and Rindge.