ICYMI: Kelly Ayotte Pulls False Ad, Doubles Down on Misleading Crime Claims As Family Expresses Disgust
- Amplify NH
- Oct 3, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 29, 2024
Contact: Ryan Mahoney, ryan@amplifynh.org
ICYMI: Kelly Ayotte Pulls False Ad, Doubles Down on Misleading Crime Claims As Family Expresses Disgust
MANCHESTER, NH — In a shocking and display of political malpractice, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte was forced to pull a callous campaign ad that falsely linked one of her Democratic opponent to an unsolved murder. The ad, which aired briefly before being taken down, attempted to blame her opponent for the 2015 murder of Denise Robert in Manchester — an incident that occurred two years before she became mayor.
Ayotte and her campaign neglected to lend the ad the legitimacy of a basic fact check, which would have typically caught such a blatantly false claim before it aired and blew up in the campaign’s face.
The controversy quickly made headlines across New Hampshire:
Ayotte's campaign quickly faced backlash from the victim’s family, with her brother Tom Robert saying, "Kelly Ayotte is lying by implying that my sister's murder happened in 2021...I'm calling on Kelly Ayotte to take this ad down and to never use my sister's memory to attack someone again."
Faced with mounting criticism, Ayotte was forced to issue a rare apology. Despite initially pulling the ad, Ayotte has stubbornly stood by her larger argument about rising crime rates — a claim easily disproved by available data.
Official statistics paint a starkly different picture from Ayotte's narrative. From 2017 to 2023, Manchester saw violent crime decrease by 70%, robbery by 73%, and sex offenses by 36%. Similar trends were observed in Nashua and Concord, with significant reductions across all categories. Statewide, from 2017 to 2023, violent crime decreased by 64%, robbery by 72%, and sex offenses by 25%.
While Ayotte focuses on misleading local crime narratives, other crime has meaningfully worsened under the current administration of Governor Chris Sununu, whom Ayotte has repeatedly praised, campaigned with, and vowed to emulate if elected. Statewide homelessness increased by 85% from 2016 to 2023 (1,317 to 2,441 individuals), and statewide murders increased by 47% in the same period (17 to 25 cases) as Ayotte promises to continue down the “Sununu path.”
"This is a disgusting example of Kelly Ayotte's desperate, slapdash attempts to distract Granite Staters from her extreme positions opposing reproductive rights,” said Amplify New Hampshire Executive Director Ryan Mahoney.“It's rich coming from Kelly Ayotte whose top campaign supporters include a known child predator who threatened child rape and mass shootings. Ayotte's latest fear-mongering campaign is already getting picked apart by fact checkers and forcing her to apologize to the victims of families she has offended with her partisan games."
About Amplify New Hampshire
Amplify New Hampshire is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization founded to keep Granite Staters informed of the decisions made in local, state, and federal government that will impact their lives and empower them to enact change. For more information, visit amplifynh.org.