Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte is one step closer to replacing longtime Republican Gov. Chris Sununu in the battleground state of New Hampshire.
Ayotte, a former state attorney general who broke with former President Trump after the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” video and narrowly lost re-election to the Senate in 2016, defeated former New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary.
Sununu, a popular governor with a strong national profile, will not run for re-election this year after winning four consecutive two-year terms as Granite State governor.
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New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is interviewed by Fox News Digital on July 11, 2024 in Newfields, New Hampshire. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Ayotte will face Joyce Craig, who served three two-year terms as mayor of New Hampshire's largest city, Manchester, in the November election eight weeks from now. Craig was nominated for the Democratic nomination for governor after defeating Cinde Warmington, the only Democrat on New Hampshire's Executive Council, a five-member elected committee that approves heads of state agencies, judges and major state contracts.
Ayotte told Fox News during the New Hampshire campaign
The race to succeed Sununu in New Hampshire, a battleground state every general election, is seen by political observers as the nation's only hotly contested gubernatorial race this year.
Ayotte ran for the party's nomination and endorsed Trump this year as he campaigns to regain his old job in the White House.
Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the leading contender for New Hampshire's Republican gubernatorial nomination, speaks to voters at the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival on Sept. 7, 2024. (Kelly Ayotte campaign)
But Morse touted his conservative credentials and support for Trump, even as the former president remained neutral during the race.
Ayotte, who received Gov. Sununu's endorsement this summer, told Fox News earlier this year, “The path that Governor Sununu has set for us is a path to prosperity and greater freedom. … I want us to continue on that path. I'm grateful for his leadership and the work he's done and I look forward to continuing his success for our state.”
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Morse faced an uphill battle against the popular and well-funded Ayotte, and repeatedly questioned her conservative record as a senator and her support for Trump.
Former New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse, who is running for Republican gubernatorial nomination, shakes hands with a voter during the Labor Day Parade on September 2, 2024 in Milford, New Hampshire. (Chuck Morse Gubernatorial Campaign)
“I think there's a big difference between me and Kelly Ayotte,” Morse said this summer. “I started out as a conservative, I finished as a conservative as Senate president, and I promise to be a conservative as governor. … That's not what Kelly did when she went to Washington.”
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Ayotte pushed back against Morse's attacks, noting that Morse unsuccessfully ran for the Republican Senate nomination in 2022, adding, “I've known Chuck for a long time and for him this is a sad way to end a political career.”
Like the fierce Republican gubernatorial primary, the Democratic nomination race has turned into a war of words.
In a state hit hard by the opioid crisis, Gov. Craig recently released an ad criticizing Warmington's past work as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical giant known for making the controversial painkiller OxyContin.
Warmington fired back with an ad of his own, accusing Craig of launching the attacks to cover up his record of leading New Hampshire's largest city out of a crime and homelessness crisis.
In New Hampshire, attention was focused on a nasty primary battle to replace Democratic Rep. Annie Custer, who served six terms in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers the western and northern half of the state.
Castor had endorsed Collin Van Ostern, a former staffer and former executive council member who narrowly lost to Sununu in the 2016 gubernatorial election.
Democratic candidates Maggie Goodlander (left) and Collin Van Ostern (right) for New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District participate in a primary debate on June 7, 2024 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (NH Today Show)
Van Ostern is up against Maggie Goodlander, a former top Biden administration lawyer who served as assistant attorney general at the Justice Department and is the wife of Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
The Associated Press projects Maggie Goodlander to win the Democratic nomination for House of Representatives.
The primary took an ugly turn with attack ads against Goodlander for her past donations to “pro-life” Republicans, allegations that she was a carpetbagger because she was born in the district but hadn't lived there for decades and had ties through her husband to some of the nation's top Democrats, including former President Clinton and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Former New Hampshire Governor John Lynch initially supported Van Ostern but switched to Goodlander, saying, “I think his campaign is one of the most vicious I've seen in my 50 years of working elections here in New Hampshire.”
Goodlander faced criticism for initially taking a negative stance after an allied super PAC targeted Van Ostern in ads, despite the fact that Van Ostern had the backing of not only Castor but also several other prominent members of the state Democratic Party.
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In a crowded field of Republican House candidates, the Associated Press has projected Lily Tann Williams, who is running for the House nomination for two consecutive terms, to win against Bikram Mansharamani, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican Senate nomination in 2022.
In the 1st District, which covers the eastern half of the state, three-term Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas easily won re-nomination, and the Associated Press projects Rep. Russell Prescott to win the Republican nomination by a large margin over his Republican opponents.
After six months of campaigning, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware held their final state primaries of the 2024 election cycle.
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