New Hampshire
With 2 women running, the New Hampshire governor's race is both close and personal
CONCORD, N.H. — One of the nation’s most competitive gubernatorial races has also become intensely personal.
None of the nation’s 12 female governors are up for reelection, but five women are running as major party gubernatorial nominees in four states. Two of them are in New Hampshire, where Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Joyce Craig are competing to succeed Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican who is not seeking a fifth two-year term.
While voters and the candidates themselves say their gender is a nonissue in a state with a history of electing women to top offices, it has influenced their approaches to the topic of abortion and reproductive health care. Both candidates have produced television ads in which they describe having miscarriages after medical appointments during which no fetal heartbeats were detected.
“I know what that feeling is like when you have your dream shattered, and you think, ‘Wow, what if I can’t have a baby?’” says Ayotte, a former U.S. senator and state attorney general.
But while Ayotte’s ad focuses on affirming support for in vitro fertilization, Craig’s promises broader protections of reproductive rights.
“I was able to end my pregnancy without interference,” says Craig, the former mayor of Manchester. “I’m running for governor because these decisions belong to women, not politicians.”
In Indiana, where Democrat Jennifer McCormick is the only woman in the race, she has highlighted her gender as she criticizes her Republican gubernatorial opponent, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, for supporting their state’s near-total ban on abortion.
“I am the only person on this stage who’s been pregnant, I am the only person on this stage who’s given birth, and I am the only person on this stage who is a mom,” she said in a recent debate. “I understand firsthand the complexities associated with pregnancy. I trust women, and I trust health care providers.”
But the “trust women” slogan comes with an asterisk in New Hampshire, where Craig often highlights Ayotte’s support for a federal abortion ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy and her role shepherding Justice Neil Gorsuch through his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he joined in overturning Roe v. Wade.
“We can’t trust what she’s saying right now because she has shown where she is on the topic of reproductive freedom,” Craig said in an interview last week.
Ayotte insists she will veto any bill further restricting abortion in New Hampshire, where Republican majorities in 2021 made abortion illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“I’m not going to change our law,” Ayotte said. “She can say all kinds of things about it, but I think I’ve been pretty clear on what my position is.”
As for her trustworthiness, Ayotte emphasizes that New Hampshire voters sent her to the Senate and governors of both parties appointed her to be state attorney general before that.
“I’ve served this state,” she said. “I’ve served the people of New Hampshire.”
As a senator, Ayotte was part of the nation’s first all-female congressional delegation, just one of New Hampshire’s notable achievements in electing women. It also was the first state to have a female governor, state Senate president and House speaker at the same time, and the first to have a female majority in its Senate. In 2008, Jeanne Shaheen became the first woman in the country to have served both as governor and U.S. senator. Sen. Maggie Hassan became the second after defeating Ayotte in 2016.
That track record makes New Hampshire an outlier, said Linda Fowler, a professor emerita of government at Dartmouth College who has studied women in politics. She said research suggests voters have been more comfortable electing women as representatives because they view them as caring and good listeners, but they see governors as CEOs and believe the job demands a more masculine approach.
With no man in this race, Fowler says it will largely come down to turnout. Ayotte has skillfully tied Craig to crime, homelessness and other “big city” ills in Manchester, she said, but the abortion issue has Democrats energized up and down the ticket.
“This race is really going to be about mobilization, and whether abortion is going to outweigh people’s mistrust of our only big city,” Fowler said.
According to the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics, 30 Democratic women and 19 Republican women have served as governor in 32 states, but never before have so many served at the same time. Even if the three other women — McCormick in Indiana, Crystal Quade in Missouri and Esther Charlestin in Vermont — fail, the New Hampshire race means a new record will be set of 13 women serving simultaneously as governor. And the number could grow with Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan poised to take the state’s top office if Gov. Tim Walz is elected vice president.
Despite the imminent record break, both Ayotte and Craig said their gender hasn’t come up on the campaign trail, and in a dozen or so interviews, voters told The Associated Press they’ve barely noticed that the race features two women.
Rachel Johnson, a Republican who ran into Ayotte at a highway rest area, said she doesn’t know much about the candidate but plans to vote for her.
“Whoever is best for the job,” she said. “Gender has nothing to do with it.”
Victoria Hill, an independent voter from Gorham, echoed that sentiment, though she is voting for Craig. After meeting the candidate in a guitar shop in Littleton, Hill praised Craig’s commitment to public education while criticizing Ayotte’s support for former President Donald Trump. Ayotte rescinded her support for Trump in 2016 over his lewd comments about women but says she now backs him again because his record in office was better than the Biden administration’s.
“That’s the problem I have — her just wavering with whichever way the wind is blowing,” Hill said.
___
Associated Press Writer Isabella Volmert contributed to this report.
The federal government has activated the New Hampshire National Guard’s 157th Air Refueling Wing in connection with the war with Iran.
“I’ve had a briefing myself, a classified briefing, but it’s really important on the messaging on this that we really coordinate with the Pentagon,” Gov. Kelly Ayotte told reporters during a press briefing following Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting.
Ayotte said she was unable to share additional details about the nature of the New Hampshire National Guard’s activity related to the conflict, including how many guard members have been activated or what role they are playing.
“We’re going to respect what messaging comes out of the Pentagon just to make sure that our men and women in uniform are fully protected and that we aren’t providing any information that could be used in a way that would be harmful to them,” Ayotte said.
In a statement Thursday, Ayotte said the unit had been deployed in late February to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in support of the operation.
Earlier this week, Pentagon officials confirmed that members of the Vermont National Guard were involved in attacks against Iran over the weekend, though our news partners at Vermont Public were not able to confirm additional details on the nature of the operation.
During the briefing with local reporters, Ayotte also stressed her support for servicemembers and those close to them.
“I have such respect for our men and women in uniform,” Ayotte said. “As you know, I come from a military family, and they have our full support, and we appreciate them and their families, and obviously anyone who is serving right now, and my thoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost someone that they love.”
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – While Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said she opposes increasing highway toll rates across the state, the Senate voted Thursday to increase rates for out-of-state license plate holders.
It now goes to the House for consideration.
This would be a $1 increase for those who have out of state plates going through the tolls at Hooksett, Hampton and Bedford for out-of-state plates, a 75 cent hike for those taking Hampton’s Exit 2 and on the Spaulding turnpike at Rochester, and a 50 cent hike for those taking the exit off I-93 to Hooksett.
An analysis in the bill shows that this would increase toll revenue by $53.3 million in fiscal year 2027 and go up each year to generate $81.4 million a year in 2036.
Senate Bill 627 passed on a voice vote with two Republicans, Senators Regina Birdsell of Hampstead and William Gannon of Sandown opposing.
Senator Mark E. McConkey, R-Freedom, moved to take the bill off the table and offered an amendment.
He said the last time there was a systemwide increase to the turnpike toll was 19 years ago.
“I am sure we could all agree the cost of operations…has continued to escalate when revenue is not rising with it,” and he noted that with an enterprise fund, the state can only spend what it takes in.
The state has just completed a 10-year highway plan and there was a $400 million shortfall in projects that could not be paid for under the current income.
McConkey said the measure would not increase tolls for New Hampshire drivers with a state license plate.
“Why don’t we ask our neighbors,” to pay a toll increase. “We are getting the best of all worlds,” by passing the bill, he said, including “protecting our residents” and having resources for improvements to the turnpike system.
Sen. Gannon, R-Sandown, asked McConkey if there are any studies on impacts near the border on businesses.
If implemented, McConkey said the state will be the 27th lowest in per mile cost still. McConkey said the bill would also increase from seven to 14 days the amount of time for those with NH license plates to pay for a toll adding there are other states that also have different rates for out-of-state users.
The Hampton toll cost would go from $2 to $3, while Hooksett and Bedford would rise from $1 to $2 for out-of-state plates.
New Hampshire currently has the lowest rate per mile among states with tolls roads.
The governor said she does not support a toll increase.
“We are not going to put a burden on drivers for a toll increase,” Ayotte said. “Families are struggling.”
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