EXCLUSIVE: CONCORD, NH — As she runs this year in one of the nation’s most important gubernatorial races, former Sen. Kelly Ayotte is making it clear that she supports former President Trump’s bid to retake the White House.
“With Joe Biden things cost more, we are less safe. There is no doubt that we are worse than when President Trump was in office,” Ayotte accused in a national interview with Fox News Digital. “I’m supporting President Trump because I believe we need to change the course of the nation.”
While support for the presumptive GOP presidential candidate (thanks to his immense control over the party) seems like a no-brainer for almost all Republicans running for elected office in 2024, for Ayotte it takes on greater importance.
Ayotte was a rising star in the Republican Party in 2016, when the former state attorney general and first-term senator with a burgeoning national security profile was running for re-election.
REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS TARGET ENERGY SUPPLY
Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the Republican candidate for governor, is surrounded by supporters as she launches her candidacy at the Secretary of State’s office in Concord, New Hampshire, on Thursday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
But just before the 2016 election, he withdrew his support for Trump over the “Access Hollywood” controversy, in which Trump, in a years-old video, made extremely crude comments about hoarding women without their consent.
“I cannot and will not support a presidential candidate who brags about degrading and assaulting women,” Ayotte said at the time.
Ayotte lost reelection by a narrow margin of just over 1,000 votes to then-Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.
But Ayotte slightly edged Trump in New Hampshire, as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton edged out the winner for the White House by less than 3,000 votes.
TRUMP SUPPORTS THIS BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN CRITICIC OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT
Before retiring full-time in New Hampshire, Ayotte remained briefly in Washington after the end of his term, guiding then-Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch (Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee) through his successful impeachment process. confirmation in the Senate.
In his post-Senate career, Ayotte enjoyed a lucrative period while serving on corporate boards and in advisory roles at public and private companies. Among them was News Corp., which at one time was the parent company of Fox News.
During the intervening years, Ayotte also followed New Hampshire politics closely and occasionally appeared at Republican Party events in the state. She also continued to write opinion pieces on important state, national and international issues.
The former senator announced her candidacy for governor nearly a year ago, after popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu announced he would not seek re-election in 2024 for what would have been an unprecedented fifth two-year term.
Ayotte remained neutral in the nation’s first presidential primary in New Hampshire, but endorsed Trump in early March, just after he clinched the Republican nomination.
“He will solve the mess on the southern border and we are also seeing it on the northern border, to keep the country safe,” Ayotte told Fox News on Thursday.
He added that Trump “also has a different vision in terms of freedom and taxes” and argued that President Biden “really, unfortunately, has been a disaster for the country, and we need change.”
Ayotte was interviewed minutes after being greeted by a large crowd of supporters as she arrived at the Secretary of State’s office in Concord, New Hampshire, to officially file her candidacy for governor.
While she is the polling and fundraising favorite for the GOP nomination in New Hampshire’s early September primary, she has come under repeated attack from her rival, former state Senate President Chuck Morse. who came in second in a crowded field of contenders in the 2022 election. US Senate Republican Primary.
Former New Hampshire State Senate President Chuck Morse, Republican gubernatorial candidate, shakes hands with a supporter as he arrives at the Secretary of State’s office to file his candidacy in Concord, New Hampshire, on June 5. (Chuck Morse gubernatorial campaign)
“I think there’s a big difference between Kelly Ayotte and me,” Morse said last week while presenting his request on Capitol Hill. “I started as a conservative and ended as a conservative as president of the Senate, and I promise you that I will be a conservative governor.
“That’s not what Kelly did when he went to Washington.”
And hours before she arrived to apply, a campaign memo from Morse asked which Ayotte would run: “the so-called conservative candidate Kelly or the moderate establishment that has always been in office.”
THIS FORMER REPUBLICAN SENATOR NOW LAUNCHES HIS BID FOR GOVERNOR IN A KEY STATE
Ayotte responded Thursday, emphasizing: “I am a strong, common-sense conservative, and I am going to continue to take this state down the path that Governor Sununu has taken. And we are going to have even better days ahead.”
And pointing to Morse, he argued: “I’ve known Chuck for a long time and this is a sad way for him to end his political career.”
Morse, in a statement to Fox News, responded by charging that “Governor Chris Sununu followed a path blazed by conservative leaders like me, while Kelly’s record is riddled with poor policy decisions and wrong votes.” [Barack] Obama more than 260 times. This state deserves leaders who confront tough questions, not those who hide from accountability. I’m here, ready to respond to the people and continue to move New Hampshire forward. If Kelly can’t face her own record, how can she lead?
Morse, who was not particularly close to Trump when the former president first ran for the White House, endorsed Trump in December. He has shown his support for Trump and for months questioned Ayotte’s support for the former president.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
While he has picked up dozens of endorsements in competitive Republican primaries across the country, Trump remains neutral in the New Hampshire gubernatorial race.
When asked if she would accept Trump’s endorsement and campaign with him in the Granite State, Ayotte told Fox News that she would “certainly appreciate” the former president’s endorsement. “Anyone who offers his support, I would love to have his support,” she said.
“But, on the other hand, you think about what the most important issue in this race is and it’s the people of New Hampshire,” he emphasized. “So I’m campaigning every day to get the support and earn the support of the voters in this race, and that’s what I’m doing on the campaign trail and will continue to do.”
Ayotte also praised Sununu, who to date has remained neutral in the New Hampshire gubernatorial race.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu speaks with Fox News during a Republican Governors Association press conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, on June 3. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“The path that Governor Sununu has us on is one of prosperity, one of more freedom… I want to continue down that path,” he said. “I appreciate his leadership and the work he has done, and I want to continue his success in his state.”
Ayoted added that “he and I see each other all the time. We see each other on the campaign trail. We’ve known each other for a long time. I respect him and we have a great relationship.”
In his interview with Fox News and speaking to reporters at his appearance, Ayotte also took aim at former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, the two top Democrats running for governor.
“My Democratic opponents have a very different vision of New Hampshire. In fact, they think the Massachusetts model is better,” he reiterated.
Since launching his campaign, Ayotte has targeted his Democratic rivals over progressive southern neighbor New Hampshire, which has long been a target for Granite State conservatives.
The Democratic Governors Association, in a statement, accused Ayotte of “being a selfish politician who will say or do anything to win, including lying to Granite Staters about her dangerous record of restricting reproductive freedom.”
When asked about her stance on abortion while filing, Ayotte emphasized that she would protect the New Hampshire state law that allows abortions during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“As governor, I will protect that law. I will not change it. So they are misleading the women of New Hampshire right now into thinking that something else is going to happen. I want them to know what our law is, that I will protect it and I will not change it “, he claimed.
Ayotte added that he would “commit to vetoing restrictions” on the current state law.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 election campaign, exclusive interviews and more in our Fox News Digital Election Center.
