Contact: Ryan Mahoney, ryan@amplifynh.org
INAUGURATION DAY: Can Governor Kelly Ayotte Keep Campaign Promises To Lower Costs & Clean Up The Messes Sununu Left?
CONCORD, NH — As Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte prepares to be sworn in later today, she enters the corner office to lead a state on the decline, with several immediate challenges left by her predecessor Governor Chris Sununu, and a bundle full of campaign promises Granite Staters are expecting her to fulfill.
“As Kelly Ayotte steps into the corner office, Granite Staters are watching closely to see if she will deliver on her promises to lower costs, tackle the housing crisis, and clean up the messes left by Chris Sununu,” said Amplify New Hampshire Executive Director Ryan Mahoney. “With her party in full control of the legislature, will she be able to show leadership and deliver results for New Hampshire working families? Or will she cave to the radical impulses of her party and become just another typical politician with a bag of empty promises?”
Ayotte promised no new taxes… leaving some to wonder whether she would be willing to raise existing taxes for New Hampshire working families to make up for the budget shortfall Sununu left her. Will her solution be to downshift costs to taxpayers just as Sununu has? Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais raised property taxes by 3.82% in 2024. Lebanon residents are bracing for an 11.9% municipal property tax increase in 2025. A 2024 tax hike in Littleton has reignited grassroots taxpayer activism, prompting a re-launch of the Littleton Taxpayers Association. Gorham property owners face a crushing $3.74 increase per $1,000 valuation, leaving residents furious about disappearing services and rising costs.
Under Republican leadership, statewide property taxes increased by $100.7 million in FY2024, a 38.3% jump. The Republican-backed SWEPT (Statewide Education Property Tax) continues to burden local towns, with property tax hikes of 6.8% in Durham, 7.9% in Londonderry, and 8.06% in Manchester—a thinly veiled ploy to slash the state budget while forcing towns and homeowners to shoulder the costs. One top New Hampshire Republican staffer even floated the idea of a state sales tax — a bipartisan third-rail for New Hampshire voters. Will the Republican legislature bite at the idea?
Ayotte promised to tackle the housing crisis... saying that solving this issue will determine whether New Hampshire will “stay vibrant or not.” With full Republican control of the legislature, she will be tasked with reversing the Sununu Slide. Under Sununu, the median price of a single-family house in the state rose over 80% from 2018 to 2024 while average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire rose by 46% from $1,206 in 2016 to $1,764 in 2023, 1.5 times faster than the national average.
Ayotte will have to contend with the moneyed interests that funded her campaign, as she has been cashing checks for millions of dollars sitting on the board of Blackstone, the “nation’s largest landlord,” which “has a history of buying distressed properties, raising rents, evicting tenants and managing some apartment complexes with deplorable conditions.”
Ayotte promised to address the statewide homelessness crisis… that skyrocketed by 85% between when Sununu took office in 2016 and 2023, including a 52% increase in 2023 alone, the largest increase of any state in the country and outpaced the national 12% increase in homelessness. From 2014 to 2016, the state experienced an “encouraging decline” — a nearly 20% decrease in homelessness following years of strategic progress.
Ayotte promised to get everyday expenses under control… like groceries, energy costs, and healthcare costs. Under Sununu, electricity costs jumped 34.5% from 15.66 in 2016 to 21.07 in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, making New Hampshire the 5th most expensive state in the country for energy costs. Total annual health insurance premium costs in NH increased from $6,637 in 2016 to $8,679 in 2023, a 30% increase, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Health outcomes did not improve with cost, as, per the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Book, children and teen deaths per 100,000 increased from 18 in 2015 to 30 in 2023 in New Hampshire.
Ayotte promised to keep her party’s radical impulses at bay… As the new leader of the state party, can she keep the Republican-controlled state legislature focused on lowering costs and helping working families, or will she indulge them by walking down the path of their radical ideology like she was prone to do as a U.S. Senator when she voted for a federal abortion ban, a ban on IVF treatment, and cast multiple votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act? With her party flirting with an even more extreme 15-day abortion ban, book banning bills, and tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy, how far will Ayotte march alongside the MAGA extremists.
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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.