Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington had high praise for President Joe Biden during an appearance on the Jack Heath radio show Tuesday. But when asked to review Joyce Craig’s performance as mayor of Manchester, the Executive Councilor was less than enthusiastic.
In the latest national polling average, Biden’s approval has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of any modern president at this point in his term. Asked by Heath why Biden’s numbers were so bad, Warmington said she couldn’t explain what was going on in the polls.
“But I believe that Joe Biden is doing a great job for our country,” Warmington added. “Joe Biden is going to win this election.”
Warmington also believes she’s a winner, not her top competitor, former Manchester mayor Joyce Craig. “I’m the only candidate in this race who can beat Kelly Ayotte.”
Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, is the frontrunner in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
Asked if she thinks Craig did a good job as mayor of Manchester, Warmington demurred.
“I’m not going to judge what Joyce Craig did. I think the best judge of that is what happened in the mayoral election last November,” Warmington said. “The Republicans ran on, ‘Do you want more of what you’ve had, or do you want change?’ And the Republicans won that race and they won the board of mayor and aldermen as well.
“I think that speaks for itself.”
Asked about Warmington’s comments, Craig and her campaign declined to respond.
Warmington, who largely avoids reporters’ questions and has never held an open press event, made the rare media appearance to attack Ayotte over abortion.
“The voters deserve to know the truth about Kelly’s record,” Warmington said. “As a senator, she was spearheading the effort to put in a national abortion ban. She helped Trump cement a majority on the Supreme Court by ushering [Justice Neil] Gorsuch around the capitol to put him on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. She celebrated the fall of Roe v. Wade, and now she recognizes that her extreme anti-abortion agenda is unpopular here in New Hampshire.
“She’s trying to rewrite history, and we’re not gonna do let her do that,” Warmington said.
Ask about Warmington’s attack, Ayotte said it was a smokescreen for the Executive Councilor’s record.
“Cinde Warmington continues to lie to the women of New Hampshire about my position on abortion in an attempt to distract from her abysmal record as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma,” Ayotte told NHJournal. “Warmington profited off of New Hampshire’s addiction crisis when she lobbied for looser restrictions on the highly-addictive drug OxyContin. That’s the ‘truth’ voters deserve to know in this race.”
Ayotte and her fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Chuck Morse have both pledged not to change the state’s current abortion law, which allows abortion for any reason during the first six months of pregnancy. Warmington wants to repeal that law and allow abortions in New Hampshire for any reason at any point during a pregnancy.
“I would absolutely repeal this dangerous abortion ban,” Warmington said.
“I trust women to make the right decisions in consultation with their doctors. And that’s the right that women have had for the last 50 years. And I believe that’s the right that women should have going forward,” Warmington added.
In fact, Roe v. Wade allowed states to have moderate abortion laws, such as restricting late-term abortions. But Warmington made it clear she is going to continue to make unrestricted abortion the top priority of her campaign.
Warmington also called out Ayotte — and current Gov. Chris Sununu — for supporting GOP nominee Donald Trump in November’s election after their high-profile criticism of the former president in the past.
“It’s disgraceful and spineless,” Warmington said.
Trump currently has a three-point lead over Biden nationwide, and in a new poll from The New York Times, Trump is beating Biden in five key battleground states. A swing state poll by Bloomberg News last month also found Trump beating Biden in six of seven swing states.
Biden is scheduled to return to New Hampshire on Tuesday for a presidential event in Merrimack.
