Republican Kelly Ayotte wasn’t on the debate stage Friday, but New Hampshire’s Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls mentioned her by name at least a dozen times.
Though six Republicans are seeking the GOP nomination in Tuesday’s primary, Ayotte has led in polls and fundraising, making her the target of the three Democrats who appeared in a debate a New England College. Former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington and restaurant owner Jon Kiper mentioned her name at least a dozen times, either touting their ability to beat her in the general election or warning that she would be bad for the state.
“Kelly Ayotte was the only senator in New England who voted against universal background checks after 20 children were gunned down at Sandy Hook,” Warmington said in explaining her support for gun safety measures including universal background checks and waiting periods for gun buyers and a ban on military-style weapons in the wake of this week’s school shooting in Georgia.
Craig said she also would support such legislation and described efforts she undertook as mayor, including implementing a gun violence prevention strategy and an app that allows teachers to summon help quickly in an emergency.
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“We have to be thinking about both fronts, moving forward with legislation and what can we do to prevent this and protect families in our state,” she said. “There is nothing more important.”
Kiper, however, emphasized that gun violence is rare in New Hampshire and said he would focus his efforts on ensuring dangerous, mentally ill people didn’t have access to guns and protecting those at risk of domestic violence. He also parted ways with the other two candidates in refusing to take the state’s traditional pledge against a general sales or income tax. He said both need to be on the table to pay for schools and noted that he both collects a rooms and meals tax at his restaurant and pays a type of income tax, the business enterprise tax.
“Frankly it is a slap in the face to every restaurant owner in this state to say there’s no sales or income tax,” he said. “Those things exist, they provide income for the state, and the state could not function without them.”
The candidates largely agreed on most policy issues, though Craig and Warmington criticized each others’ backgrounds during a discussion of the state’s opioid crisis. Warmington once was a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, but she says it was before the true dangers of the drug and the company’s deceitful marketing were fully known.
“To cherry pick my work is completely misleading,” said Warmington, who suggested that Craig has profited from the opioid crisis because her husband is a lawyer whose firm defended drug traffickers.
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“My opponent is bringing my husband into this election because she can’t stand by her full record,” Craig responded. “I stand my by record, and I know the challenges that our local communities are facing when it comes to opioids.”
Kiper, who has lagged behind Craig and Warmington, later insisted that he is the only candidate who can appeal to younger, independent voters.
“The reality is that it’s going to be very hard for Cinde and Joyce to beat Kelly Ayotte for reasons that really are not their fault, but the people that are going to decide this election are going to hear ‘lobbied for Purdue Pharma,’ and they’re going to vote for Kelly. They’re going to see videos of homeless people in Manchester, and they’re going to vote for Kelly Ayotte,” he said. “What I can offer you is that I do not have decades of political baggage.”
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Diane Durgin, 67, is accused of shooting at a Black man who inadvertently drove to her property after a prearranged truck part sale, prosecutors said.
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
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Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
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Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
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Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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