(The Center Square) – Democrat Cinde Warmington is making another run for New Hampshire governor, bidding to unseat Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte in the November election.
Warmington, a former executive councilor who ran for governor in 2024, announced her gubernatorial campaign Wednesday on social media. She’s pledging to work to reduce the cost of living in the state and blaming the high cost of groceries, housing, electricity and property taxes on the incumbent first-term governor and second-term Republican President Donald Trump.
“I’m running for governor to bring down skyrocketing costs for hard-working Granite Staters,” Warmington, 68, said in her campaign launch video. “Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump are driving up prices that are already too high. I know we can do better.”
Ayotte is expected to run; she’s not formally announced her campaign for reelection.
Warmington said if elected she would reject sales or income tax proposals, and vowed to end the state’s school voucher program and “push back” on Trump’s policies on immigration and social issues.
“Kelly Ayotte refuses to fight for Granite Staters,” Warmington said. “She won’t even stand up and tell Trump that we don’t want his ICE warehouse in Merrimack or anywhere else in our state.”
ICE is the acronym for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Warmington ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2024 after losing a Democratic primary to former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig. She is also a private attorney who has worked in the health care industry and as a lobbyist.
She will likely face Democrat Jon Kiper, who finished a distant third in the 2024 gubernatorial race, in a Democratic primary. Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern, a Democrat, has also said he is considering a run for governor.
Ayotte, a former U.S. senator and attorney general, defeated Craig in the 2024 election to keep the governor’s office Republican. New Hampshire has no term limits, and governors are elected every two years.
Ayotte’s campaign panned Warmington’s entry into the governor’s race, pointing to her work as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers.
“Cinde Warmington spent her career as a lobbyist for the opioid industry, promoting OxyContin and defending New England’s most notorious pill mill,” Ayotte campaign spokesman John Corbett said in a statement. “Cinde chose to make money off big pharmaceutical companies who hurt Granite Staters, and she is absolutely disqualified from serving as our governor.”
