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.
