New Hampshire’s governor’s race pits ex-Sen. Kelly Ayotte against ex-Mayor Joyce Craig
CONCORD, N.H. — In one of the most competitive in the country governor racesVoters in New Hampshire are choosing between one candidate trying to jump from local to statewide office and another looking to bring federal experience to the Statehouse.
Democratic former mayor of Manchester Joyce Craig is confronted by the Republican former US senator. Kelly Ayotte in Tuesday’s elections to replace the Republican administration. Chris Sununuwho declined to seek a fifth two-year term. Both would become New Hampshire’s third female governors, after Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both of whom now serve in the Senate.
It was a narrow loss to Hassan in 2016 that ended Ayotte’s tenure in Washington after one term. Previously, Ayotte served as the state’s attorney general for five years, and during her campaign she often highlighted her past as a prosecutor.
Ayotte, backed by Sununu ahead of the September Republican Party primaries, vowed to continue his anti-tax and pro-business policies. She used the slogan “Don’t Mass it up” to rail against more liberal Massachusetts to the south, while accusing Craig of supporting tax increases and blaming her for crime, homelessness and drug overdose deaths in the most populous city in the state.
“If you’re retired or saving for retirement, she’s already said in this campaign that she’s going to raise your taxes,” Ayotte said during a recent debate, referring to Craig’s support for reinstating a tax on interest and dividends. “If she’s willing to talk about raising taxes in a contentious campaign, imagine what she’ll do when she’s governor.”
Craig, who served on Manchester’s school board and council of aldermen before being elected as the city’s first female mayor in 2017, highlighted her administrative experience. She said it prepared her to tackle the state’s housing crisis, strengthen public schools and expand access to reproductive health care.
She was especially critical of Ayotte on the latter issue, pointing to Ayotte’s votes in the Senate to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate mandatory insurance coverage for contraception. Although Ayotte has said she would veto any bill that would further restrict legislation abortion, she supported a twenty-week ban as a senator. Craig portrayed her as “the most extreme threat to reproductive freedoms our state has ever seen” and out of touch with state and local communities.
“Sen. Ayotte has spent her entire career attacking reproductive freedom,” Craig said during a debate last week. “Her actions speak louder than her words, and we cannot trust her.”
New Hampshire law prohibits abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy, except when the mother’s health or life is in danger or there is a fatal fetal abnormality.
While Ayotte enjoyed greater brand awareness and fundraising, Craig benefited from a more unified party, boosted by the vice president Kamala Harris at the top of the card. In contrast, Republicans are more divided and Ayotte has a shaky history with the former president Donald Trump. She withdrew her support for him in 2016 over his lewd comments about women, but has now endorsed him again, saying his record was better than that of the Biden administration.