Gov. Kelly Ayotte filed for reelection at the New Hampshire State House on Thursday morning, arriving at 8:30 a.m. to a crowd of hundreds of supporters before submitting the paperwork for a second term.
She then took questions from the assembled press — including a friendly opening from NH Journal, the conservative outlet whose managing editor, Michael Graham, gave the governor a chance to go after her opponent.
When this reporter — a credentialed member of the New Hampshire State House press corps and multi-award winning New Hampshire political reporter tried to ask a question — whether she stands by her 2024 endorsement of Donald Trump, whether she’ll defend his record as she runs for her own second term, and whether she would campaign with him if he comes to New Hampshire — her staff shut it down.
“COLIN NO” shouted John Corbett, a senior advisor to the governor who serves as her spokesman, shouting over the question. The governor gave a cursory non-answer before moving on.
A sitting governor, at a public candidate filing on state property, was willing to field questions from supporters and a right-wing reporter who handed her a chance to attack her opponent — but not a question about the political price she might pay for the most consequential political decision she’s made in the last two years.
The question carries weight because of Ayotte’s own history with Trump.
In October 2016, as a U.S. senator fighting for reelection, she withdrew her support for Trump after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, saying she could not back a candidate who “brags about degrading and assaulting women,” and wrote in Mike Pence instead.
She lost that race to Maggie Hassan by roughly 1,000 votes — a reversal many believe cost her the seat.
Eight years later, running for governor, she held out for months before formally endorsing Trump in 2024. She has not withdrawn that endorsement since.
Now she’s asking New Hampshire voters to return her to office in a state where Trump is deeply underwater.
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released in late May found 55% of Granite Staters disapprove of the job he’s doing and 45% approve — a net rating of -10 that has kept sliding as independents turn against him. His handling of the economy fell to a record low in the state last fall, and voters remain sour on the economy and gas prices.
That record is why the question matters: Does she still stand behind the endorsement, will she run on Trump’s record, and will she share a stage with him if he turns up in the Granite State? Those are things voters are entitled to know before they decide. On Thursday, she declined to say.
Ayotte is not coasting to an easy second term.
Her approval slid to the lowest point of her term in February, when a University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll put her net approval at zero — 47% approve, 47% disapprove, down from +5 in January — a drop that tracked the fallout over a proposed ICE detention facility in Merrimack and questions about what her administration knew, and when.
She has led her likely Democratic challenger in head-to-head polling but has yet to reach 50% support in the matchup.
