Kelly Ayotte

Kelly Ayotte is the Republican governor of New Hampshire, elected in 2024, and is seeking a second term. A former prosecutor, she was New Hampshire's first female attorney general and later a U.S. senator before returning to state office. Her first term has included legislation on bail, immigration enforcement and school vouchers.[1][2][6]

Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 27, 1968, and grew up there.[1][6] She earned a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University and a law degree from Villanova University School of Law in 1993.[1][6] Her husband, Joe, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and A-10 pilot, and they have a daughter who is a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy.[6]

Ayotte clerked for a year for New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Sherman Horton and then worked as an associate at the Manchester law firm McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton.[1] In 1998 she joined the state attorney general's office as a prosecutor, became legal counsel to Gov. Craig Benson in 2003, and soon returned as deputy attorney general.[1][6] Benson appointed her attorney general in 2004, making her the first woman to hold the office, and Gov. John Lynch reappointed her twice; she served until 2009.[1][6] Her office prosecuted the 2006 murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs, which ended in a conviction and a death sentence.[1][6]

Ayotte resigned as attorney general in 2009 to run for the U.S. Senate, won a narrow Republican primary over Ovide Lamontagne in 2010, and defeated Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in the general election.[1] She served in the Senate from 2011 to 2017, when she lost her re-election bid to Gov. Maggie Hassan by 1,017 votes, and in 2017 she led the White House team shepherding Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court confirmation.[1][6] She later worked with New Hampshire companies, including as chair of the board of BAE Systems, Inc.[6]

Ayotte was elected governor in November 2024, defeating Democrat Joyce Craig, and took office on January 9, 2025.[1] In May 2025 she signed two bills banning municipal sanctuary policies, and she also signed legislation removing the income cap on Education Freedom Accounts, after which families rushed to apply for the school vouchers.[3][5] She also signed legislation rolling back parts of the state's 2018 bail reform law, and a state budget that contained no new taxes but included fee increases.[2][4]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.