CONCORD, N.H. (WCAX) – New Hampshire’s political landscape remains the same in the wake of Tuesday’s election, with the GOP maintaining firm control over the Governor’s office and the Statehouse.
“I will be the governor for all the people of New Hampshire,” Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte said Tuesday night, thanking her supporters and Republican Governor Chris Sununu. “There are very real challenges that we need to work together on to keep our great state moving in the right direction.”
Ayotte will have a solid mandate to govern after the GOP expanded its majority in both chambers at the Statehouse as well as retaining its four-to-one advantage on the Executive Council, which approves contracts and other business.
“I heard her say that she is going to be a governor for all Granite Staters and I took that as encouraging,” said Karen Liot Hill, a Lebanon City Council member elected as the lone Democrat on the Executive Council. She says door-knocking throughout her Upper Valley district during the campaign was an eye-opening experience. “People are really struggling. They are struggling to get by. They don’t have enough money to pay the bills,” she said.
But if Democrats want to be part of the solution, they will need to work with Ayotte and the Republicans. “I learned at a young age how to compromise,” said Sen. Sue Prentiss, D- Lebanon, who was elected to a third term in the minority. “There are issues that I won’t compromise on — reproductive freedom, getting in the way of teachers doing their jobs,” she said.
Governor Chris Sununu will be leaving the corner office with high approval ratings after finishing out his fourth term.
