New Hampshire Governor Race 2026: Ayotte vs. Warmington

Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R), a former U.S. senator and state attorney general, is seeking re-election. Cinde Warmington (D), a health care attorney who served on the Executive Council from 2021 to 2025, is the Democratic nominee. Stephen Villee (L) is also on the ballot; reaching 4 percent would restore his party's ballot status. New Hampshire and Vermont are the only states Kamala Harris carried in 2024 where a Republican governor is seeking re-election. The Cook Political Report, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and Pluribus News all rate the race Likely Republican. Ayotte starts as the favorite: a New Hampshire governor has lost a first re-election bid only twice in the last 100 years, and not since 2004. Still, Trump's unpopularity and a tough economy are hurdles for any Republican.

Ayotte is running on a first-term record defined by vetoes. She has vetoed dozens of bills from the Republican Legislature, including 32 in 2026 alone, and lawmakers overrode seven in August. She calls affordable housing the state's top economic challenge, pointing to new laws on accessory dwelling units and permitting, and she backs small modular nuclear reactors to add energy supply. Both candidates now support a moratorium on new data centers, but on different timelines: Ayotte would put one in her next state budget, while Warmington would impose one on "day-one" and calls the governor's position "too little, too late." Ayotte's main attack is Warmington's past work as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, which she has defended in a campaign video.

Warmington says the race is about pocketbooks: she would suspend the state gas tax and push for consumer refunds on tariffs, and she would name a state "housing czar". She also promises to reverse two items in Ayotte's 2025 budget: Medicaid premiums for enrollees at or above the poverty line and higher $4 drug copays. On immigration, she says the state should not cooperate with ICE.