After decade of GOP control, Democrats recruit challenger in key swing state
With November's elections less than nine months away, Democrats finally have a major candidate to take on Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte as she seeks a second term steering swing-state New...
By Fox News · Fox News
With November's elections less than nine months away, Democrats finally have a major candidate to take on Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte as she seeks a second term steering swing-state New Hampshire. Cinde Warmington, a former member of New Hampshire's elected Executive Council, on Wednesday officially launched her second straight campaign for governor . Republicans have controlled the governor's office in the crucial northern New England battleground for nearly a decade — first under former Gov. Chris Sununu and now under Ayotte, who succeeded Sununu 13 months ago — and Democrats are aiming to finally win back what's known in New Hampshire as "the corner office" in the Statehouse. In her campaign release and launch video, Warmington took aim at Ayotte over affordability, which has been a winning issue for Democrats amid persistent inflation in the year since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP'S POLITICAL TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING "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. NEW HAMPSHIRE BECOMES FIRST NEW ENGLAND STATE TO BAN SANCTUARY CITIES "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…