Democratic nominee for governor Joyce Craig spoke to residents at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton Monday morning while Jack Tobey, a U.S. Army veteran and former Rye selectman, listened at right.
Republican nominee for governor Kelly Ayotte of Nashua spoke with Gov. Chris Sununu while meeting shoppers at the Marke tBasket in Hooksett Monday night.
Democratic nominee for governor Joyce Craig spoke to residents at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton Monday morning while Jack Tobey, a U.S. Army veteran and former Rye selectman, listened at right.
An exuberant Democratic nominee for governor Joyce Craig of Manchester predicted that she’s going to break the eight-year Republican hold on the corner office on Tuesday because voters want a chief executive they can trust.
“Are you ready for us to win?” Craig asked a boisterous crowd of Democratic Party volunteers at Manchester’s coordinated campaign Monday afternoon.
“It has been a year and a half on this campaign trail, and it is really hard to believe that tomorrow is Election Day. You all are going to bring us home tomorrow, the conversations you are having with voters at the store, at the restaurant, with your neighbors, it’s going to make the difference.”
A few miles away, Republican nominee Kelly Ayotte of Nashua said if she wins, it's because voters decide they don't want to change direction and will go with her to advance outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu’s record of providing for the vulnerable while lowering and not raising taxes for working families.
"Our state has been on a very good path with Governor Sununu's leadership and I think they understand I am going to keep us on that path, protecting the New Hampshire way and continuing to grow our economy and continuing this excellent quality of life. I think that is what this election is all about at the end of the day," Ayotte said.
"Why did she (Craig) spend today campaigning with (Maura Healey) the governor of Massachusetts? That's the model of higher taxes and less freedom, that's not New Hampshire and I actually think that is what is on the ballot."
Healey led canvass launches for the Democratic ticket in Exeter, Manchester and Nashua Monday, but Craig did not join her at any of those events.
The two have campaigned together here several times and both attended Craig fundraisers in Massachusetts and California.
Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, started and ended her day with ex-Gov. John Lynch, the Democrat who is the only one in state history other than Sununu to have won four two-year terms.
They began meeting residents at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton and, in a tradition for every race Craig has run, ended it with patrons at the Puritan Backroom Restaurant in Manchester, owned by the family of U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H.
"Being mayor of Manchester is more difficult than being governor of the state of New Hampshire," Lynch told veterans. "I trust Joyce completely."
Sununu: Ayotte has the bipartisan chops
Ayotte kicked off election eve at the C&J Bus Lines headquarters in Portsmouth and along with other retail stops, she did some door-to-door campaigning in Manchester.
Asked if she could move past a bitter campaign and work across the aisle Ayotte answered, "I know it has to be about the state and getting the results for the people of new Hampshire and I will work with anyone to do that."
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen pointed out that both Ayotte and Sununu did not attend last night’s rally in Derry with Republican vice presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.
“They want to appeal to the Trump voters while at the same time trying to convince those voters that don’t accept Trump,” Shaheen said.
“We aren’t going to be fooled like that. We know where they stand and who we can trust in the next election.”
But after meeting with shoppers at the Hooksett Market Basket with the woman he wants to succeed him, Sununu said Ayotte was the only one in the race with a record of proven leadership.
"All that we've achieved as a state, that doesn't happen because you elect Republicans, it's because you elect good managers," Sununu said.
"Kelly has the management experience, it’s the management piece that has to be emphasized and that’s what she brings to the table. Joyce Craig’s management? Six years as mayor, we’re still waiting to find it.”
Buckley to volunteers: Don't forget Hassan's two Senate wins
Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley said Sen. Maggie Hassan’s two winning Senate campaigns should serve as a cautionary tale to all party activists to work their hearts out between now and 8 p.m. Tuesday when the last polls close.
In 2016, she beat Ayotte to win that Senate seat by only 1,017 votes.
“Every vote matters people, knock on those doors,” Buckley said.
Republican nominee for governor Kelly Ayotte of Nashua spoke with Gov. Chris Sununu while meeting shoppers at the Marke tBasket in Hooksett Monday night.
Then six years later, when Democratic partisans were “having kittens,” worried about how close her 2022 reelection was, Hassan coasted to a 9-point victory over GOP nominee, retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc of Stratham.
Hassan accused Ayotte of presenting a sleight of hand to voters, assuring them she would veto any further restrictions on legal abortions while saying that, unlike Sununu, she would oppose state spending in support of Planned Parenthood.
For the past three years, the Republican-led Executive Council, over Sununu’s objection, has blocked state family planning grants for Planned Parenthood and two other programs that provide abortions in New Hampshire.
“Without Planned Parenthood, how are (low-income) women going to get treatment for a miscarriage or if they need an abortion?” Hassan asked rhetorically.
“She is trying to have it both ways on this issue. Believe Kelly Ayotte’s record; look at what she does, not what she says.”
Ayotte said Craig and Democratic leaders have spent millions in this campaign trying to scare voters.
In 2015, Ayotte in the Senate supported a 20-week federal abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.
Since the race began, however, Ayotte, the former attorney general and U.S. senator, has said she supports the 2021 law that banned legal abortions after 24 weeks except if the mother’s health is at risk or if the fetus has a fatal anomaly.
Ayotte said she always thought this should be a matter for the states to set their own policies.
Kuster: Ground game is the 'secret sauce'
If elected, Craig said she’d push for the Legislature to become the last New England state to codify protections that had been in place for women under the Roe vs. Wade decision until the Supreme Court overturned the issue and sent it back to the states.
Retiring U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., said she was “wearing my Joyce Craig green” sweater and predicted the Democrats’ ground game will turn the tide.
“This is the secret sauce. Turn off the TVs because they don’t have what we have going on the ground,” said Kuster.
Democrats will win in New Hampshire and in the White House because they have the “bigger coalition,” Kuster said.
“I am 'nauseously' optimistic and I think we are going to get this done,” Kuster added.
Maggie Goodlander of Nashua, the Democratic nominee in Kuster’s 2nd Congressional District, said she’s been inspired by going to many of the party’s 18 field offices to meet men and women who are volunteering for the first time on a campaign.
“We are going to run through the tape, aren’t we?” Goodlander posed.
Pappas urged activists to keep the faith.
"It’s going to be a long day and a long night but let’s stick with it, our country is worth it, our democracy is worth it," Pappas summed up.
House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm and Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy, both of Manchester, said flipping legislative majorities in both chambers would change the course on many issues from housing and childcare to climate change and gun control.
“We have been playing defense for the past few years; it is time to be on offense,” Wilhelm said.
