About Kelly
Kelly Ayotte is proud to serve as New Hampshire’s 83rd Governor, working every day to keep our state safe, prosperous and free.
With Governor Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire continues to be a beacon of opportunity not just in New England, but nationally. From passing new laws to make it faster and easier to build housing, to fully funding childcare scholarships, to signing a responsible, balanced budget with no new taxes, Kelly has spent her first term delivering for all of New Hampshire.
A proud product of New Hampshire public schools, Kelly is supporting students, teachers, and families by investing more money per-student than ever before, providing historic support for special education, and expanding opportunities for children to be in the best learning environment for them. Kelly got cell phones out of our classrooms, is prioritizing fundamental skills like reading, and is making sure New Hampshire invests in workforce development to put more students on the path to success.
As a former Attorney General, Kelly has dedicated her career to seeking justice for victims, supporting law enforcement, and keeping dangerous criminals off our streets. As Governor, Kelly fixed the broken bail system, strengthened protections for victims of crimes like domestic violence and human trafficking, and restored retirement benefits promised to first responders. Kelly also championed closing the DUI test refusal loophole and is working to make our roads safer by reducing distracted and impaired driving.
In her first term, Kelly has also made sure New Hampshire continues to protect critical services for our most vulnerable citizens. In addition to her support for substance use disorder treatment programs, Kelly fully funded community mental health centers and ensured Granite Staters with developmental disabilities have no waitlist for services. She also secured the largest federal funding award in New England to expand access to affordable, high-quality health care in every community across New Hampshire.
And no one has been more vocal about standing up for what is best for New Hampshire than Kelly. When Vail levied a sales tax on New Hampshire skiers, Kelly took them on and won. When local concerns about the planned DHS facility in Merrimack weren’t being acknowledged, Kelly got the facility cancelled. And with insurance carriers continuing to deny coverage for kids' mental health, Kelly has made it clear that she will keep fighting to hold them accountable and protect these critical services.
Kelly also hasn’t been shy about using her veto pen when bills cross her desk that violate our Live Free or Die spirit, like vetoing hidden sales taxes, book bans, and a host of other bills that would negatively impact Granite Staters way of life.
From 2010 to 2016, Kelly served in the United States Senate, where she was a steadfast advocate for New Hampshire veterans, service members, and their families, and helped lead the effort to pass landmark legislation to combat the opioid crisis. As Governor, she’s continuing that work by prioritizing hiring veterans and their families for state jobs, and she’s strengthening programs that help Granite Staters battling substance use disorders.
Before running for Governor, Kelly worked with companies in New Hampshire and across the country and supported local veterans organizations and nonprofits.
Kelly lives in her hometown of Nashua with her husband Joe, a former fighter pilot turned middle school math teacher, along with their two children, Kate and Jake, and their dog Thunder.
