It was “tax hikes vs. abortion bans” in the first general election debate of the New Hampshire governor’s race, hosted by the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce (GNCC) Wednesday morning.
Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) made her opponent Joyce Craig’s tax policy her top target.
“Every single budget she’s put forward has had a tax increase,” Ayotte said. “If Joyce Craig makes it to that Corner Office in Concord, we can kiss the New Hampshire Advantage goodbye.”
Craig, the former three-term mayor of Manchester, hit Ayotte hard on the issue of abortion.
“Kelly Ayotte has spent her entire career attacking reproductive health care,” Craig said. “She has voted multiple times for a national abortion ban.”
And both accused the other of running a dishonest campaign.
“She [Ayotte] is trying to say anything she can to get away from her record,” Craig claimed, while Ayotte countered the former mayor has “misled women in this state.”
The hour-long event also included Libertarian Party candidate Stephen Villee, who supports a “peaceful secession” of New Hampshire from the United States. He acknowledged most of his party’s policy stances, “for most of you, all sound terrifying.”
Though Ayotte and Craig just won their party’s nominations two weeks ago, they’ve already identified their campaign themes, and they echoed those messages in Nashua.
According to Ayotte, Craig will raise taxes, drive up energy costs, bring Massachusetts “sanctuary” illegal immigration policies to New Hampshire, and “do to the Granite State what she’s done to Manchester.”
Craig says Ayotte will ban all abortions, serve at the beck and call of corporate landlords, oppose climate change initiatives, and gut public school funding.
Polls show a neck-and-neck race.
Wednesday morning’s debate was shaped to focus on “issues of significant concern to the business community,” according to moderator Phil Kinkade.
The first question was about crafting a state budget. Ayotte used it to cite Craig’s repeated attempts as mayor to raise the tax cap on Manchester taxpayers. “Every year she was mayor, she proposed a tax increase,” Ayotte said. “We can’t afford that at the state level if we want to preserve the New Hampshire Advantage.”
Craig countered that she’s the “only candidate in this race who has put forward a budget.” She also blamed Republicans for “downshifting” funding responsibilities to local communities, which in turn raised local property taxes, and vowed to never approve a statewide sales or income tax.
(The most recent state budget increased state aid to cities and towns by $145 million and projects a total of $2.7 billion in cash to municipalities.)
When the questions turned to healthcare, Craig quickly turned the conversation to the abortion issue. “She [Ayotte] has voted multiple times for a national abortion ban, she has voted to defund Planned Parenthood… and she celebrated when Roe v. Wade was overturned,” Craig said.
“My position has been clear,” Ayotte answered. “I support our current law on abortion that gives women the freedom to obtain an abortion in the first six months of pregnancy. And if, God forbid, in the last three months you have a medical emergency or your baby suffers a fatal fetal anomaly, you can still get an abortion.
“I’ll veto anything that comes to my desk that is more restrictive,” Ayotte said.
Ayotte also worked to fend off another familiar attack by Craig’s campaign — her role serving on the corporate board for the Blackstone Group real estate group.
Polls show housing costs and availability are a top issue, particularly among independent voters. Craig pledged to create 60,000 new housing units statewide and added, “It’s important to note Kelly Ayotte has been sitting on the largest landlord corporate board, making millions of dollars.”
“She’s referring to Blackstone, and they own two hotels and one student housing complex in Durham, so they’re not affecting the market here in New Hampshire,” Ayotte responded. “This is the problem with Mayor Craig – she always attacks the private sector.”
Ayotte also noted Craig is running a TV ad attacking her for sitting on the board of BAE Systems, “our largest manufacturing employer. I want the private sector at the table.”
The housing topic was of interest to several attendees, including Patrick Binder, who works in landscape construction in Manchester. Binder told NHJournal he “can’t stand the phrase’ workforce housing.’”
“It’s just code for ‘we’re going to build some substandard housing, rather than build houses, so families can live in a house with a white picket fence, and that’s not what we’re talking about when they say ‘workforce housing,’” he added. “It’s just appeasing transitory workers or those who have no commitment to living and staying in New Hampshire.”
A related major topic never raised by GNCC panelists but nevertheless managed to sneak into the debate after the audience was given a chance to ask questions was illegal immigration.
“We should not be a sanctuary state. That’s really a difference between me and Mayor Craig. I would support a statewide ban on sanctuary cities,” Ayotte said. “We’re not going to have policies like we see over in Massachusetts that are spending money on housing illegal immigrants. We have money we need to spend on housing people here and our veterans.”
Craig countered that New Hampshire “is not currently a sanctuary state,” and “will not be a sanctuary state when I’m governor,” a claim that allowed Ayotte the opportunity to call attention to Craig’s testimony while mayor opposing a proposed sanctuary city ban.
“There was a bill to basically create a ban to make sure that we never become a sanctuary state, that no locality passes those regulations. And she opposed that bill,” Ayotte noted.
Craig’s explanation?
“The bill that Sen. Ayotte is referring to is a bill that I was with my police chief there supporting, because I always do whatever I need to do to make sure our communities are safe,” Craig said. “Kelly, again, is saying anything to get elected.”
GNCC President Wendy Hunt said she was happy with the forum.
“I think it went really well,” she told NHJournal.
