Former Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington of New Hampshire, seen in a campaign video, launches her second straight bid for governor of the key northern New England swing state. (Cinde Warmington for Governor)
"The prices of groceries, housing, electricity, and property taxes are crushing working families. And Kelly Ayotte is making life in New Hampshire even more expensive," Warmington charged.
And Warmington knocked Ayotte for not more forcefully pushing back against Trump's unprecedented second-term agenda, which includes an ongoing attempt by the administration to open an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in the state.
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"I’ll stand up to Trump when he jacks up healthcare costs and tariffs. I’ll say no to ICE’s warehouse, and I’ll work for our small businesses and make sure we don’t have a sales or income tax," she emphasized.
Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who previously served as state attorney general, has had some friction with the Trump administration over the past year, and criticized Washington over a lack of transparency surrounding the ICE facility. The governor also forced the resignation of a state official who had been in communication with Trump's team without telling Ayotte.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, is interviewed by Fox News Digital in January 2024 at the Statehouse in Concord. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
Ayotte's campaign quickly blasted Warmington over her past lobbying for the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.
"Cinde Warmington spent her career as a lobbyist for the opioid industry, promoting OxyContin and defending New England's most notorious pill mill. Cinde chose to make money off big pharmaceutical companies who hurt Granite Staters, and she is absolutely disqualified from serving as our Governor," Ayotte spokesman John Corbett charged in a statement.
Warmington first ran for governor two years ago, losing the Democratic primary to former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, who lost to Ayotte in the general election by nearly 10 points.
The Republican Governors Association communications director Courtney Alexander argued that "the fact that an already failed candidate is all New Hampshire Democrats could come up with speaks to their desperation."
Warmington may not have the Democratic primary field to herself.
Democratic Mayor Deaglan McEachern of Portsmouth, who is mulling a gubernatorial run, said in a statement, "With everything happening in Concord and Washington, DC, the stakes are too high to risk losing this race, and I believe it's time that New Hampshire Democrats look to the future as we work to beat Kelly Ayotte."
"I look forward to saying more soon," he added.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
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