By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) – Republican Kelly Ayotte won the New Hampshire governor’s race on Tuesday, The Associated Press projected, defeating Democrat Joyce Craig in one of the nation’s only closely fought gubernatorial contests.
Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, had accused Craig, the former mayor of the state’s largest city, Manchester, of failing to address crime and homelessness during her tenure.
Craig had sought to make abortion a central issue, attacking Ayotte for backing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate a nationwide right and suggesting she might pursue statewide limits as governor.
Ayotte has said she would block any changes to New Hampshire’s current law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2021 and banned abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
She will succeed outgoing Republican Governor Chris Sununu, who decided not to seek a fifth two-year term.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Donna Bryson and Daniel Wallis)
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