| Ayotte left the board of directors of the world’s largest corporate landlord when she took the governor’s office. Whether she kept the shares is a question state disclosure law does not answer. |
In 2024 The Union Leader published an article that detailed how Blackstone, the private equity firm whose board included New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R), held a large number of rental properties in New Hampshire.
Last Thursday, Aug. 13, three Nashua Democrats stood outside one of the apartment complexes mentioned in that article and put a single question to Ayotte: Does she still own stock in Blackstone, the world’s largest corporate landlord?
Their press conference came days after the median price of a single-family home in New Hampshire hit a record $580,000.
Deputy House Democratic Leader Laura Telerski, a four-term Nashua representative now running for state Senate, told the governor to disclose her holdings in Blackstone..
“She must tell Granite Staters whether she has a financial stake in Blackstone, and if she does, divest,” Telerski said.
Ayotte’s office did not respond to requests for comment asking if she still held the stock.
Ward 8 Alderman Derek Thibeault, who also chairs the Nashua Democratic City Committee, said residents are bidding against money they cannot match.
“Families in Nashua should not have to compete against billion dollar investment firms,” he said. “If Governor Ayotte still holds these shares, Granite Staters deserve to know.”
Samantha O’Loughlin, a Democrat running for state representative in Nashua, said she moved back in with her parents after graduating from Plymouth State University.
“I couldn’t even get a studio apartment,” she said. She cited National Association of Home Builders data showing 83.4% of New Hampshire households cannot afford a median-priced new home, the steepest share in the country.
“There is nothing advantageous about losing an entire generation of young workers and families because they can’t afford to stay here,” O’Loughlin said.
Ayotte joined Blackstone’s board in May 2019 and was paid $150,000 a year for the seat. A 2023 US Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure showed she held more than 16,500 shares worth roughly $2.2 million, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported in 2024. She resigned from the board effective Nov. 14, 2024, days after winning the governorship.
Ayotte has not said publicly whether she sold the stock.
Blackstone now owns more rental apartments than any other company in America, and in January 2025, the US Department of Justice accused its apartment arm, LivCor, of helping push rents higher.
Instead of competing on price, the government said, six of the country’s biggest landlords fed their private rent numbers into the same software and let it tell them all what to charge. LivCor settled with federal prosecutors in December and promised to stop, then paid $7 million in June to settle with nine states.
In 2019, the United Nations’ top housing adviser named Blackstone among corporate landlords contributing to the global housing crisis, a characterization the firm rejects. Ayotte called similar criticism Democratic lies in 2024 and has said she is proud of her private-sector work.
The Private Equity Stakeholder Project’s multifamily tracker, updated in May 2026, puts Blackstone as by far the largest apartment owner in the US, roughly 100,000 units ahead of Greystar, the next biggest. Blackstone itself says it’s the largest owner of commercial real estate globally.
New Hampshire’s financial disclosure law would not settle the question the three Democrats raised. RSA 15-A requires officials to name sources of income above $10,000 and areas of special interest, but not to itemize what they own or what it is worth.
Speakers also faulted Ayotte over the Housing Champions program, a program that is designed to incentivize housing construction in town across the state that has been defunded by Republicans in the state legislature.
Granite Post has covered Ayotte’s Blackstone ties since the 2024 disclosures drew bipartisan criticism, including her role on the audit committee during a child labor scandal at a Blackstone-backed company, a May event in Concord making similar demands, and a Manchester billboard hitting her on property taxes.
