Data centers have become the fastest-growing liability for New Hampshire candidates in the 2026 midterm elections, and few candidates have felt the heat quite like Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R).
She went from being a major, if quiet, backer of the projects, clearing the way for their expansion in the state with legislation she signed, to promising to include a sweeping moratorium on the facilities in her budget next year–though stopping short of an executive order halting them immediately.
But her politically convenient policy reversal doesn’t change her own financial ties to the industry.
In 2017, she was paid to sit on the board of a company that powers data centers, and the stock she held there is now worth close to $1 million, according to a new report. She hasn’t said whether she sold it.
The Lever, a national investigative newsroom, reported Oct. 21 that Ayotte served on Bloom Energy’s board from 2017 to 2019. Bloom makes fuel cells, machines that generate electricity on-site, and lists data centers at the top of the industries it serves. Ayotte was paid $112,500 for her board work, The Lever found.
How much is Ayotte’s Bloom stock worth?
Ayotte’s final disclosure of her Bloom holdings, filed in 2019, showed she held more than 4,400 shares, worth about $42,000 at the time, according to The Lever.
Bloom’s stock has since taken off as investors bet on AI’s appetite for electricity. Those 4,400 shares were worth just over $1 million when The Lever published its report and about $970,000 on Tuesday.
Had Ayotte sold the day before she became governor in January 2025, she would have more than doubled her money, to over $108,000, the outlet reported.
Does Ayotte still own the stock?
Ayotte hasn’t said whether she still owns the shares, and state law doesn’t make her. New Hampshire officials must list income sources above $10,000 but don’t have to itemize what they own, Granite Post reported in August, when Democrats asked whether she still holds Blackstone stock.
The Ayotte campaign did not respond to The Lever’s request for comment.
What has Ayotte done on data centers?
In 2025, Ayotte signed House Bill 672, which lets qualified “off-grid” power providers, companies that make electricity without plugging into the regular grid, strike deals and build projects without oversight from the state Public Utilities Commission, though they remain subject to other applicable laws and regulations. Industry watchers said the law made New Hampshire more attractive to data center developers.
As recently as June, after a Nottingham proposal drew fierce pushback and was withdrawn, Ayotte had not called for a moratorium, and by late July a Manchester billboard was slamming her for it. On Aug. 20, she told the Rotary Club of Portsmouth, “It does not make sense at all to site a data center in New Hampshire,” and said she would support a moratorium. On Sept. 2, she said she would propose a multiyear statewide moratorium in her next budget, which could not take effect before July 2027.
Where does Sununu stand?
Ayotte isn’t the only top New Hampshire Republican on the ballot with looming questions about personal money riding on data centers. US Senate nominee John E. Sununu holds between $183,015 and $645,000 in stock in seven companies that build, run or supply data centers, including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Equinix, according to the financial disclosure he filed in February, Granite Post reported.
Asked about calls to stop building data centers at an Aug. 8 event hosted by a Republican blog in Bedford, Sununu said high electricity rates already keep big developers away. “But that doesn’t mean you should just ban data centers nationwide,” he said.
What is Warmington saying?
Ayotte’s Democratic challenger, Cinde Warmington, was the first candidate in the race to call for a moratorium and has pledged to pause large data center construction by executive order on her first day in office if elected. She has repeatedly attacked Ayotte’s record on data centers.
“Kelly has personally profited from data centers, and now these very same companies are bankrolling her campaign,” Warmington told The Lever.
