Vulnerable GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte ‘Plans To Support’ Trump As GOP Nominee

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., gestures while speaking during a news conference on unemployment and military pension cuts, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (A... Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., gestures while speaking during a news conference on unemployment and military pension cuts, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais MORE LESS
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This post has been updated.

In the closely watched New Hampshire Senate race, vulnerable GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte will back Donald Trump, who became the presumptive nominee with his win in Indiana Tuesday night.

“As she’s said from the beginning, Kelly plans to support the nominee,” Ayotte spokeswoman Liz Johnson told WMUR on Wednesday morning.

But in a sign of just how fraught Trump can be, Johnson added that Ayotte will not endorse Trump, however, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.

The New Hampshire race is a prime pick-up opportunity for Democrats, and will be monitored for how Trump’s presence at the top of the GOP ticket affects down-ballot races.

In a Tuesday night statement, a spokesman for the Democratic candidate, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, quickly tied Ayotte to Trump.

“Kelly Ayotte has repeatedly said that she’ll put her political party first by supporting Donald Trump if he is the nominee, and now it is time for Ayotte to just do what she’s been preparing to do for weeks and make her support for Trump official,” Hassan spokesman Aaron Jacobs said in a statement, according to WMUR.

The Hassan statement tied Ayotte and Trump together on defunding Planned Parenthood, Roe v. Wade, and Garland Merrick’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

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Notable Replies

  1. Senator…how will a Trade War effect New Hampshire’s economy?

  2. “I think cement shoes are a bold fashion statement,” said Sen. Ayotte.

  3. “Kelly Ayotte has repeatedly said that she’ll put her political party first by supporting Donald Trump if he is the nominee,"

    Does supporting someone like Donald Trump truly put the Republican Party first? It certainly puts Donald Trump first.

  4. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    As a resident of the Granite State let me say that you were going to lose anyway so why not lose BIG!

  5. If Sen. Ayotte had come out this morning and strongly supported Hillary Clinton, she’d be a shoe-in for reelection, and what would it really cost her? Nothing. She’s stupid for not doing the right thing and saving her seat at the same time. New Hampshire voters would have rewarded her for it.

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