1 week Ago
Republican Gov.-Elect Kelly Ayotte said job one for her will be to craft a tighter two-year state budget as revenue surpluses end and the state must cope without billions in federal relief aid. And Ayotte, 56, said her decisive victory over Democratic nominee and former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig served notice that this will be done by living within the state’s means without raising taxes.
“The people of New Hampshire don’t want us to raise our taxes, so we are going to make the decisions that need to be made to bring this into balance,” Ayotte said during an interview. Next week, Ayotte said she will join outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu as the latter presides over the presentation of state agency spending requests.
State law compels the department heads to submit to the governor this fall spending plans that include a “maintenance” request which is the amount of money needed to continue operating at the same level of service. Ayotte said she was gratified voters gave her a “working majority” of Republicans in the House of Representatives, state Senate and on the Executive Council. But Ayotte, the former U.
S. senator and attorney general, said she’s determined to govern in a bipartisan fashion and find common ground on issues such as the affordable housing crisis and expanding the capacity to care for those with mental health problems. “I’m acutely aware from these results that there were Democrats, Republicans and independents who voted for me,” Ayotte said.
“I am determined to be a governor who represents everyone and I’m really hopeful we can reach consensus on some of the challenges that we face.” During Ayotte’s years on Capitol Hill, 2010-16, she got to experience both power perspectives. “I was in the majority and I was in the minority, and in both you recognize that getting things done is about building bridges and making relationships that lead to meaningful compromise,” Ayotte said.
Sununu and Ayotte met for two and a half hours last Thursday afternoon and Ayotte said she will soon announce her transition team that will assist her. “I’m so grateful that Governor Sununu has been so supportive of our efforts to hit the ground running; it’s going to serve the state very well in my view,” Ayotte said. Ayotte said she’s spoken to members of President-Elect Donald Trump’s campaign team since her election victory, but has not heard from the president.
“I can only imagine what the president’s phone looks like. I’m the governor elect and I know what mine has looked like,” Ayotte quipped. In 2016, Ayotte had not supported Trump’s election as president after reports about the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was heard bragging about groping women.
Trump brushed off the comment at the time as "locker room talk." During 2024, Ayotte endorsed Trump’s White House bid after he convincingly won a double-digit victory in the first-in-the-nation primary in the Granite State last January. Ayotte’s nine point victory over Craig was more than twice as big as what independent polling had been showing going into last Tuesday’s election.
The race was the most expensive in state history with both sides spending more than $50 million. But Ayotte said she believes her effort to run a grassroots campaign with a lot of public visibility and door-to-door meetings with voters paid off. “I really think our message resonated with the people of New Hampshire, that they liked the direction the state had been taking under Governor Sununu and wanted someone like me to take that approach while attacking our challenges head on,” Ayotte said.
“Grassroots still matter in a unique state like New Hampshire where public officials are so close to the voters.” Along with the budget, Ayotte said he also wants to pursue further bail reform efforts to ensure those accused of violent crimes must see a judge prior to their release pending trial. “The Legislature made some improvements last year but I remain concerned whether they have gone far enough and think we need to consider going back fully to the landscape we had before we adopted the bail reform law in 2018,” Ayotte said.
“This is not just a problem isolated to Manchester and Nashua, the two largest cities. All communities are dealing with this and it’s a matter of public safety.” Ayotte said the all-Democratic congressional delegation has reached out and offered its pledge to work with her administration.
“It’s like the New Hampshire way, right? We have vigorous campaigns and then after that we set about to govern in a responsible, bipartisan way,” Ayotte said. “My job is to really bring people together and to advocate for the state, working with both sides of the aisle to make the state stronger. I am committed to that.
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