Incumbent New Hampshire Republican shrugs off primary challengers in win for purple-state moderates

Incumbent New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte secured the Republican nomination for a second two-year term on Tuesday, beating two outsider candidates and teeing up a November battle against Democrat nominee Cinde Warmington.

With about 84% of expected votes counted, Ayotte won 91.6% of the Republican vote, trouncing Shaun Fife’s 4.1% and Bob Wayne McClory’s 3.5%, according to NBC News. Warmington advanced to the general election automatically as the only Democrat on the ballot.

'No income tax, no sales tax. Not now, not EVER!'

Ayotte previously served as U.S. senator from 2011 to 2017, losing her re-election bid to former Gov. Maggie Hassan in 2016 by about 1,000 votes. Ayotte defeated former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in 2024 to become governor.

Ayotte didn’t run as a culture warrior in 2024. New Hampshire went for then-Vice President Kamala Harris by three points but has kept a Republican trifecta in its state government since 2021. Republicans also control the state’s Executive Council, a unique governing body that shares executive power with the governor.

University of New Hampshire polling conducted in August put Ayotte’s approval rating at 49%, with 42% disapproval.

The incumbent’s campaign has focused on kitchen table issues, emphasizing public safety policy and low taxes. New Hampshire is one of the few states without its own income or sales tax, and Ayotte plans to keep it that way.

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"I've said it before, and I will say it again," Ayotte said in a March X post. "No income tax, no sales tax. Not now, not EVER!"

She also promised to address rising housing costs through regulatory changes and collaboration with the Republican-controlled legislature.

Those cost-of-living concerns are a top issue for Granite State voters, according to August UNH polling, as are housing affordability and property taxes.

Ayotte has also touted her controversial keystone Education Freedom Accounts, which let parents spend the state’s per-pupil aid on homeschooling or private education rather than public school.

Ayotte’s Republican opponents didn’t mount serious campaigns. Gilmanton farmer Shaun Fife, who took just 0.6% of the vote in the 2024 gubernatorial primary, refused donations and promoted alternative currencies and monetary systems.

Bob Wayne McClory also finished with 0.6% of the vote in the 2024 primary. McClory did not fundraise or make public comments during the 2026 primary.

Democrats, by contrast, closed ranks early.

Though Warmington ran unopposed this cycle, she unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination in 2024. Warmington is a health care attorney and served as an executive councilor from 2021 to 2025.

Warmington is campaigning against Ayotte’s Education Freedom Accounts, blaming them for driving up property taxes. She has also slammed ICE and promised to fight Donald Trump, though she notably agrees with Ayotte that New Hampshire should not enact a state income or sales tax.

The health care attorney has drawn fire from both sides of the aisle for working with Purdue Pharma as an opioid lobbyist from 2001 to 2002.

“What I did not know at the time was that Purdue Pharma was engaged in this massive criminal fraud, something that would be exposed only over years of litigation, that they convinced doctors that it was safer to prescribe Oxycontin under circumstances when it was not,” Warmington said in an August video.

Warmington is supported by Planned Parenthood NH Action, Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who is now running for Senate.

Ayotte has been endorsed by the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire and Turning Point Action.

Multiple general-election polls conducted in August showed Ayotte leading Warmington roughly 49-39.

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