Ayotte rejects white supremacist endorsement in governor’s race
The gubernatorial candidate who got an unwelcome endorsement last week from an avowed white supremacist in New Hampshire has repudiated that backer and his message. Former US senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, told the Globe that she “absolutely” disavows the comments he made on social media about her candidacy.
In the two months since launching her campaign, Ayotte has talked a lot about her fear that New Hampshire is “one election away” from becoming Massachusetts. She has spoken fondly of New Hampshire’s freedom-loving political identity and its lack of sales and income taxes, and her emphasis on public safety has included calls for aggressive prosecution of drug dealers from Massachusetts.
Ayotte has specifically called out Lowell and Lawrence as “drug hubs” just over the state line. (The US Department of Justice has previously described the area as a primary hub for drug distribution in New England.) Those two cities are also notably more racially diverse than New England as a whole, and Lawrence has long been known as the “Immigrant City.”
A white supremacist, Ryan J. Murdough, latched onto Ayotte’s messaging. In a social media post last week, the founder of New England White Network used racist tropes to argue that her anti-Massachusetts rhetoric is about keeping people he called “invaders” out of New Hampshire.
“They merely lower our wages, create filthy cities, inflate our crime rates, and lower our living standards,” he wrote.
Murdough said his group is backing her candidacy as a result — but Ayotte rejected the endorsement.
“I abhor racism, racists, and anyone who attempts to divide Granite Staters,” Ayotte said. “The disgusting commentary made by this individual has no place in our politics or our state and should not be granted oxygen by my Democrat opponents or the liberal media trying to score political points against me.”
The other candidate in the GOP primary, former New Hampshire Senate president Chuck Morse, also rejected Murdough’s rhetoric as divisive.
“I cannot speak for others, but I do want to make it crystal clear that I would never pursue or welcome such an endorsement,” Morse said. “My goal is to serve as a representative for the entire Granite State, striving for unity and collaboration rather than sowing division or undermining any particular community.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joyce Craig, the outgoing mayor of Manchester, said the unwelcome endorsement is a reflection of Ayotte’s policy priorities.
“Ayotte earned the support of white nationalists because of her extreme agenda to restrict access to abortion and cater to far-right special interests,” Craig said. “Murdough joins other extremists in campaigning for Kelly Ayotte as hate crimes in New Hampshire continue to rise. These fringe groups and their hate have no place in New Hampshire.”
The other Democratic candidate, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, said voters should remember Ayotte’s political track record in relation to former president Donald Trump.
“The last time Kelly Ayotte denounced a white nationalist who supported her, she went on to work for his administration to confirm a radical Supreme Court justice and now she vows to support his campaign for president,” Warmington said.
Warmington was alluding to Ayotte’s public break with Trump in 2016 after the publication of an “Access Hollywood” video in which he can be heard bragging about groping women without consent. Ayotte has said she plans to support whoever wins the GOP’s nomination in 2024, and polling suggests Trump is the party’s front-runner.
“New Hampshire couldn’t trust Ayotte to tell us the truth about her extreme agenda then,” Warmington said, “and they can’t trust her now.”
Ayotte and Morse have campaign events planned for Thursday evening. While Ayotte will attend a fund-raiser in Manchester along with Governor Chris Sununu and mayoral candidate Jay Ruais, Morse will hold an event at the Atkinson Country Club as part of an annual harvest festival.
Both Craig and Warmington are expected at the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention on Saturday in Bedford.