O'Brien Rules Out Challenge to Ayotte

State Rep. William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, the former Speaker of the House, has ruled out a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, next year, according to a post on a draft Facebook page encouraging him to run.

About 30 hours after the page was created by Aaron Day of the New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus and Stark 360, O’Brien posted a note on the page and his own Facebook site saying that while he was “honored by those” who thought he should run, “I will not.”

O’Brien stated that he had made “commitments that I must keep and there are obstacles that are insurmountable” while at the same time, encouraging other Republicans to “continue to look for someone of character and conservative convictions to run against Ayotte” adding that they deserved an alternative choice.

“We deserve a candidate of character who does not just profess conservative convictions, but also who will not run from them when in office,” he said. “We deserve a candidate who will not spend her years in office trying to please Liberals and RINOs thinking that she has Constitutional Republicans and Libertarians sewed up because they have no where else to go. We deserve a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 who does not make us think about air quotes every time she says she is a conservative.”

At the end of his post, O’Brien linked to a video featuring the late comedian Chris Farley in an “air quotes” rant during the Saturday Night Live’s fake news segment surmising that it was similar to a political ad Ayotte used against then-U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes during the 2010 Senate race.

“I remember when I saw the ad thinking it was a little ironic for Ayotte to be running an ad making light of such hypocrisy,” he added. “On the other hand, I hoped at the time that it signaled that she would begin to believe in Republican principles and not just believe in running for office as a Republican.”

A little less than 200 people had liked the draft page, as of about 3:30 p.m. this afternoon.

Day said while he was disappointed in O’Brien’s decision and understood it, he hoped that if support was built around the effort, that the former Speaker would reconsider.

“It’s a long way between now and the primary,” Day said. “We will keep our process going.”