Abortion and Trump Troubles Remain Front and Center at Kelly Ayotte’s Filing for NH Gov

Abortion and Trump Troubles Remain Front and Center at Kelly Ayotte’s Filing for NH Gov

Late last week, former U.S. Senator and Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte made it official, filing to be on the ballot for New Hampshire’s governor’s race, but couldn’t escape scrutiny for her dangerous and extreme track record on abortion and complicated history with Donald Trump.

At her filing, Ayotte tried to claim she won’t be a threat to Granite Staters’ reproductive freedom, but her track record paints a different picture. As the Boston Globe reports, Ayotte “push[ed] for federal restrictions on abortion” in the U.S. Senate, including a national abortion ban and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and “shepherd[ed] Justice Neil Gorsuch through his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he joined in overturning Roe v. Wade.” 

Ayotte also couldn’t escape her complicated history with former President Donald Trump (more on that here from Fox News), which continues to be highlighted amidst the state’s increasingly messy and nasty GOP primary. Fellow GOP candidate Chuck Morse immediately went after Ayotte and her record upon filing, accusing Ayotte of “avoiding New Hampshire voters and the debate stage because of her terrible record,” and “hid[ing] from accountability.”

To combat Morse’s attacks, Ayotte gave a rare interview with Fox News where she reaffirmed her support of the former president after her infamous unendorsement in 2016 cost her the support of the MAGA base as well as her election that year. In her conversation with Fox News, Ayotte claimed she would accept an endorsement from Trump — who she once said that she “cannot vote for”— and that “she would ‘certainly appreciate’ the former president’s backing.”

“With her finger in the wind, Kelly Ayotte is the exact kind of self-serving politician that Granite Staters are tired of, reminding New Hampshire voters at every turn that she’ll say and do anything – even going back on her own word – to win,” said DGA States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien. “Ayotte’s dangerous and extreme track record on abortion is disqualifying, and her obvious pandering to Trump and his far-right base only continues to prove to Granite Staters across the political spectrum that they can’t trust her. ”

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