John Lynch: Joyce Craig is the leader we need now for New Hampshire

Joyce Craig’s record of taking on tough fights and making a real difference for her community, her grit and toughness, are why I’m proud to support her for governor.

When I first ran for governor, like Joyce, I wasn’t a creature of the Concord political scene. I was a business leader who saw our government wasn’t working for everyone, and I decided to step up and serve the state that had given so much to me and my family.

The same is true about Joyce: with her three children in public schools, Joyce saw a need for change, so she ran for and won a seat on the local school board. While serving on the school board, Joyce realized the Board of Mayor and Alderman exercised a great deal of control over public schools, so she ran for alderman and won. As an alderman, she didn’t believe the incumbent mayor was doing enough to move the city forward, so she ran against a popular Republican and won. 

I know Joyce. She’s a problem solver, a leader, and a winner.

I also know Kelly Ayotte. I like Kelly Ayotte. As governor, I reappointed Kelly for her second term as attorney general, but being attorney general, akin to running a law firm, is very different from being governor of New Hampshire. 

Kelly has spent this election spreading lies about Joyce’s record and pitting our communities against each other. She knows her own record of voting for a national abortion ban, to defund Planned Parenthood, and working as Neil Gorsuch’s “sherpa” is too damaging and disqualifying in the eyes of Granite Staters. 

As a father of three kids, two of whom are young women, and the proud grandparent of two little girls, I do not want the government or politicians to tell them what to do with their bodies.

 Despite her election-year lies, Kelly’s record in the U.S. Senate has demonstrated that Granite State women cannot trust her on this issue.

Kelly also went back on her word on Donald Trump. In 2016, she took a stand when she rescinded her endorsement of Trump after the Access Hollywood tape came out, rightly declaring that anyone who talks that way about women should never be president. She said she wanted her daughter to know “where [she] stood.”

I remember being proud of Kelly Ayotte’s decision to do what was right. Now, Kelly’s backing Trump again, because to her, winning is more important than doing what’s right.

Joyce Craig will be a governor for all of New Hampshire, and will bring her business background and executive experience as mayor to the corner office to hit the ground running on day one.

Joyce will make sure New Hampshire builds the 60,000 new homes and apartments we need to stay economically competitive and support our growing workforce.

 Joyce will defend reproductive rights and ensure women can make health care decisions without interference.

Joyce will put public safety first and make sure our police departments have the resources they need to keep our communities safe.

 Joyce will work with businesses, colleges and universities, non-profits, and government entities to strengthen the economy for our communities and hardworking Granite Staters.

 Joyce will bring people together to address our state’s challenges and ensure every New Hampshire family can succeed, and will do it all without a sales or income tax.

 How am I so sure Joyce can address these challenges? Because it is exactly what she did as mayor of the state’s largest city for six years.

 As mayor, Joyce worked with developers in Manchester to build more than 2,000 units, including more than 500 affordable units and breaking ground on one of the largest affordable housing developments in state history.

 Joyce allocated nearly $30 million to housing initiatives and started the first comprehensive review of city zoning rules in decades. As governor, Joyce will act with urgency and cut the red tape to address the housing crisis.

Joyce is also the only candidate for governor with a comprehensive plan to protect and expand reproductive health care. As mayor, Joyce supported the state’s largest Planned Parenthood and has always protected fundamental freedoms.

As mayor, Joyce increased the number of officers on the Manchester police force and added more neighborhood foot patrols, thousands of investigative hours, established more community policing efforts, and launched the city’s first gun violence reduction strategy. Joyce also increased community resources by hiring community health workers to help respond to non-violent incidents. These initiatives led to a 40% reduction in violent crime during Joyce’s tenure.

Under Joyce’s leadership, Manchester was the only city in the country to win the Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge, bringing in $44 million to create nearly 10,000 direct jobs and more than 40,000 indirect jobs in Southern New Hampshire. 

We need a governor we can trust. And I trust Joyce Craig. Joyce’s record speaks for itself. She rolls up her sleeves and works across the aisle to get things done.

Susan and I are proud to support Joyce Craig’s campaign for governor, and we ask you to join us in voting for her on November 5th.