Governor Is Ready For Bipartisanship, But Draws Line At Tax Hikes

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

In her first press conference since the blue tsunami blew away her fellow Republicans at the polls, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said she’s ready to work across the aisle and has a record to prove it.

Unless they want to raise taxes.

“I think it’s really important to protect the New Hampshire advantage,” Ayotte said Tuesday. “I don’t support an income tax. I don’t think that’s a surprise to people.”

Asked how the incoming Democratic majority—including a supermajority in the House—has impacted her priorities for the next biennium, Ayotte said she sees an opportunity for bipartisanship.

“My standard is really simple. When I think there’s work that we can do together that helps New Hampshire, then we’re going to work together. And if there’s something that I think that hurts our state, of course I’m going to stand up for the people of the state,” Ayotte said.

“We have to work across the aisle to do the people’s business, and I think that the people of New Hampshire expect us to find ways to work together,” she added.

As for bridging the partisan divide, she noted that she was “appointed attorney general by both a Republican governor and a Democratic governor. And when I first got into (the U.S. Senate), President Obama was in the Oval Office, and he was there the whole time I was.”

Republican Gov. Craig Benson appointed Ayotte attorney general in 2004, and Democratic Gov. John Lynch reappointed her twice. In 2010, she was elected to the U.S. Senate and served one term, losing her bid for reelection to then-Gov. Maggie Hassan in 2016.

Senate Democrats have picked their leadership, but the House caucus won’t decide until Thursday. Rep. Alexis Simpson, who served as House minority leader last session, is seeking the speaker’s gavel. She rarely worked with Republicans and has been a vocal critic of many of Ayotte’s priorities, particularly on taxes.

One idea Democrats have been promoting since Tuesday’s victory is restoring the income tax on interest and dividends that was eliminated by Republicans as of 2025. Another is to repeal or overturn the property tax cap law passed last year. Nearly 60% of Granite Staters voted Tuesday to cap their local school property tax growth. Under the current law, the question will return to the ballot in 2028.

“I would like to bring property taxes down,” Ayotte told reporters. “I think we all would agree on that. And the people of New Hampshire had an opportunity to weigh in on that in their elections. And I thought it was important that they have that voice.”

So would she be willing to sign a bill repealing the current tax cap law?

“We are at our best when decision-making power is in the hands of the people. Granite Staters in towns across the state made their opinions clear, and the legislature needs to respect that,” Ayotte told NHJournal.

That still leaves plenty of room for bipartisan cooperation.

“I’ll certainly be looking for ways for us to work together on those areas where we know we can do better for the state, and we want to make sure that the people of the state have access to affordable housing and child care, as well as I hope that they want to work with me to bring energy costs,” Ayotte said.

“When I look at the dozen housing bills we got done (last session), they were bipartisan,” Ayotte added. “There already has been some bipartisanship we can build on, and I look forward to taking these issues on and trying to find common ground.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.