Corey Lewandowski, center, speaks at a Trump campaign event following the 2020 presidential election, on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia. (Matt Slocum - AP Photo)
And it's possible the Republican-controlled New Hampshire legislature passes and sends to Ayotte's desk a redistricting bill early next year.
Ayotte's predecessor, former Gov. Chris Sununu, three years ago, vetoed a new congressional map passed by Statehouse Republicans.
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The current governor has pushed back against the pressure campaign over redistricting.
"I don't think the timing is right for redistricting. And as I look at where we are and the things we should be focusing on, this is not something that I support doing at this point," Ayotte told WMUR-TV last month.
Ayotte's team did not respond to a Fox News request for comment.
President Donald Trump is joined by longtime ally and outside adviser Corey Lewandowski, at a rally at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan, on April 28, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Lewandowski, who for years served as a top outside adviser to then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, now serves as a senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where Noem is Trump's DHS secretary.
This isn’t the first time Lewandowski has considered a statewide run in New Hampshire. In the 2020 election cycle, he flirted with a run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
And in early 2021, he teased a possible 2022 run for governor months ahead of popular GOP Gov. Chris Sununu's launch of his successful re-election bid. New Hampshire, along with Vermont, are the only two states in the nation to hold gubernatorial elections every two years.
"I’ve known Corey a long time. If he’s passionate about something, then he’ll fight to the end to get it and I think he’s passionate about the people of New Hampshire and being governor is probably the best way he can serve them," New Hampshire native Joshua Whitehouse, who worked with Lewandowski on the 2016 campaign and who’s a veteran of the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
While Lewandowski would likely grab support from MAGA world if he runs for governor, his past political baggage could come back to hurt him.
After facing allegations he made unwanted sexual advances towards a Republican donor's wife at a 2021 charity event, he was pushed out of his job steering a top pro-Trump super PAC. Lewandowski later cut a deal with prosecutors in the case after he was charged with misdemeanor battery.
Trump’s spokesperson said at the time that Lewandowski "will no longer be associated with Trump world."
And Noem's spokesperson at the time said Lewandowski "will not be advising the governor in regard to the campaign or official office."
But he quickly worked his way back into both Trump and Noem's political orbits.
Lewandowski was also charged in 2016 after yanking the arm of a reporter at a Trump campaign event, but the charges were later dropped.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks in Quito, Ecuador, in July 2025 (Getty Images/Alex Brandon)
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The New Hampshire Democratic Party took aim at both Lewandowski and Ayotte in a statement.
"Corey Lewandowski and Kelly Ayotte are two sides of the same extreme coin: Republican hardliners who have zero problem bending at the knee for Donald Trump and letting him steamroll New Hampshire families," longtime state party Chair Ray Buckley claimed.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/longtime-trump-ally-lewandowski-flirts-primary-challenge-against-gop-governor