2 weeks Ago
Republican nominee for governor Kelly Ayotte greeted a supporter at the Bedford Transfer Station last Saturday morning. As a close and often bitter campaign for governor draws to an end, Democrat Joyce Craig of Manchester and Republican Kelly Ayotte of Nashua agree on one thing. When it comes to politics and grassroots civic engagement, no one does it like New Hampshire.
“It’s been incredible experience traveling all over the state speaking with individuals and business owners and really making connections and building relationships that I would never have otherwise so I’m really grateful how open people are in New Hampshire,” Craig, 57, said during an interview. “They expect to meet people running for office, they share their stories and their ideas.” Ayotte, 56, recalled the experience of running for the corner office over the past year and a half in similar terms.
“What I love most about New Hampshire is it’s this vibrant place where there’s growth and opportunity but at the end of the day, it’s a small state. Everywhere I go, I find there are these great connections. A woman came up to me and said, ‘I used to watch my daughter play against your daughter’s teams,’” Ayotte said.
“I’ve run into this all over this wonderful place we live in, and it really energizes me. I’m so glad to not be going back to Washington and instead, I hope, to be given the chance to make sure we retain what we have and build upon it .” Craig said she knew affordable child care was a problem, but it became personal when a woman confided that she was spending 70% of her income so she could go to work.
“That’s just not sustainable and it just brought to light how severe this crisis is and how important is that we address it,” Craig said. Ayotte said last week while campaigning in the North Country town of Pittsburg she saw firsthand the deep concern residents have about a private owner’s plans to do less logging on the massive Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Tract that spans three communities. Last summer, Gov.
Chris Sununu’s administration rejected the 10-year forest management plan that had been offered by the new California owner, Aurora Sustainable Lands. “This is their livelihood. Forestry is a critical industry up there and what’s done with that property also affects recreation and that’s another big revenue producer for them,” Ayotte said.
“I just love going up to the North Country. I always feel like when I’m up there, my blood pressure goes down.” These two women who want to replace the retiring Sununu in January have campaigned in different ways.
Craig, a former three-term mayor, has often gone to events and appeared with Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. She’s also attracted some of the country’s rising stars to come in her behalf. There have been no less than a half-dozen present Democratic governors, literally from one coast to the other, from Massachusetts Gov.
Maura Healey to Gavin Newsom, California’s chief executive. “From my perspective, we are running for the same reasons and focused on the issues that matter most the families of our state, tackling the housing crisis, strengthening public schools, strengthening and expanding reproductive health care and saving families money,” Craig said. “We are all on the same page.
..We are working for the same team.
” By contrast, Ayotte, the former U.S. senator and attorney general, has usually campaigned on her own and had no national surrogates speak for her.
“I could have brought in anyone I wanted, senators, governors, congressmen and women, you name it but this is race is about the future of New Hampshire, not the country,” Ayotte said. “The only person I’ve wanted to have at my side is Governor Chris Sununu. He’s done so much for this state and it’s so gratifying to hear that he has confidence in me to keep us going in the right direction.
” Democratic nominee for governor Joyce Craig of Manchester posted with activists during an outreach event with the Hispanic community last Saturday at the 77 Sports Bar and Restaurant in downtown Nashua. During a canvass launch in Manchester, U.S.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen criticized Ayotte for changing her mind about former President Donald Trump, refusing to support him as a candidate in 2016 but endorsing him after Trump won the first-in-the-nation primary here last February. “She has buckled under the pressure and says she’s supporting Donald Trump even though he is a convicted felon,” Shaheen said.
“It’s really disappointing to see that she’s decided to come in full blast for Donald Trump.” In this campaign, Ayotte unlike Craig has had very little to say about the daily controversies on the presidential campaign trail. “I’ve completely stayed out of the national narrative because I don’t believe that is what is motivating this choice.
The governor is New Hampshire’s goodwill ambassador and it’s all about how you are going to bring the state forward,” Ayotte said. Craig’s day began at the coordinated campaign office in Milford where she spoke with state Sen. Shannon Chandley, D-Amherst, and the pair went knocking on doors.
Then it was off to the 77 Sports Bar and Restaurant, a Latino-owned business in downtown Nashua where she and Second Congressional District Democratic nominee Maggie Goodlander of Nashua urged patrons to support the Democratic ticket up and down the ballot. “What we hear in this election is people who want to sow chaos, people who don’t want to solve problems but they want to sow chaos,” Goodlander said. “What we want are people who want to get to work, who love our communities and want to get to work and that’s why I am in this race and that’s also why my choice is Joyce.
” A fourth-generation New Hampshire resident, Craig said her hometown has thrived because so many people from different backgrounds have come to call it home. “Our biggest strength as a state is our diversity and the growing cultures that we have here,” Craig said. “The city of Manchester that my kids grew up in is very different than the city I grew up in and they’ve been exposed to a lot more and that’s a wonderful thing.
” Craig said her hometown will overcome the beating it took in the Ayotte attack ads that criticized Craig for failing to control the problems of homelessness and violent crime. “It is unacceptable how Kelly Ayotte has depicted the city of Manchester, it is a vibrant community, the mill yard is bustling with activity and biotechnology,” Craig said. “We have a vibrant downtown and a growing arts and cultural community.
People want to live there, work there and go there to have fun.” Ayotte has called Manchester a “proud city” that has been on the rebound since voters chose Republican Jay Ruais to succeed Craig as mayor. Sununu told reporters Craig merely warmed the mayoral seat.
“They deserve so much better than the six years they got with Joyce Craig. What’s the best thing she did as mayor? I would love to hear it,” Sununu said. A report mentioned Craig made Manchester the only city in the country to be designed a federal “biotech” hub for regenerative medicine, Sununu said that was inventor Dean Kamen’s accomplishment, not hers.
“You have to take risk, try new things even if they fail. I didn’t see her do that,” Sununu said. Ayotte started her day at the Bedford Transfer Station, waving to residents as they dropped off their recyclables.
During the one-hour visibility, Ayotte got a lot of thumbs up from people driving by her. “When I first ran (for U.S.
Senate) back in 2010 that’s when I first realized this was a great place to meet people so I did all kinds of them that year,” Ayotte recalled. “We held signs that read, ‘Dump Hodes.’” In that Senate race, Ayotte easily defeated then U.
S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.
H. She later made stops at a Market Basket, T-Bones Restaurant in Bedford and the Dairy Queen in Hudson. “My son (Jake) was really excited I was going to work the counter at Dairy Queen.
I told him, ‘Bring your friends and their parents,’” Ayotte quipped. “I have also felt that when it comes to campaigning, you go to where the voters live, don’t hold a bunch of big rallies and make them come and listen while you give a speech. Go out, meet them where they are and learn what’s on their minds.
People in this state aren’t shy, they will tell you.” Union Leader Reporter David Pierce contributed to this report. klandrigan@unionleader.
com.
