Kelly Ann Ayotte ( AY-ott; born June 27, 1968) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2025 as the 83rd governor of New Hampshire. A member of the Republican Party, she served from 2011 to 2017 as a United States senator from New Hampshire and from 2004 to 2009 as the 27th attorney general of New Hampshire.
Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, Ayotte is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, and Villanova University School of Law. She worked as a law clerk at the New Hampshire Supreme Court before entering private practice. She served as a prosecutor for the New Hampshire Department of Justice and briefly as the legal counsel to Governor Craig Benson before returning to the New Hampshire Department of Justice to serve as deputy attorney general. In 2004, Benson appointed Ayotte as attorney general of New Hampshire after Peter Heed resigned. She became the first woman to serve as New Hampshire's attorney general. She was twice reappointed by Governor John Lynch. Ayotte resigned as attorney general in 2009 to run for the U.S. Senate after Senator Judd Gregg announced his retirement.
In September 2010, Ayotte narrowly defeated lawyer Ovide Lamontagne in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. She then defeated Democratic congressman Paul Hodes in the general election with 60% of the vote. Ayotte was mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. In 2016, Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan defeated Ayotte in her reelection bid by 1,017 votes (0.14%). After President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court, the Trump administration chose Ayotte to be the sherpa in charge of the White House team for Gorsuch's confirmation.
Ayotte was elected governor of New Hampshire in 2024, defeating Democratic nominee Joyce Craig.
Early life, education, and career
Kelly Ann Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 27, 1968, the daughter of Kathleen M. (née Sullivan) and Marc Frederick Ayotte. Her father's family is of French–Canadian descent. Ayotte attended Nashua High School and received a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University in political science. At Penn State, she was initiated into the Delta Gamma sorority, served as Panhellenic Council President, and was a member of the secretive Senior Honor Society Lion's Paw. In 1993, Ayotte received a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she served as editor of the Environmental Law Journal.
Ayotte clerked for Sherman D. Horton, associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, for one year. From 1994 to 1998, she was an associate at McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, a Manchester law firm.
In 1998, Ayotte joined the office of the New Hampshire attorney general as a prosecutor. In 2001, she married Joseph Daley, a pilot in the National Guard. In 2003, Ayotte became legal counsel to Governor Craig Benson. Three months later, she returned to the attorney general's office as deputy attorney general. In June 2004, Benson appointed Ayotte as attorney general of the state of New Hampshire after Peter Heed resigned.
New Hampshire attorney general
Ayotte joined eight other states' attorneys general to sue federal regulators over a rules change that made clean air emissions standards for power plants less strict and eliminated clean air reporting and monitoring requirements.
In 2005, the court agreed with Ayotte and the others that the Environmental Protection Agency must measure changes in the emissions from power plants and could not exempt power plants from reporting their emissions.
As assistant attorney general, Ayotte prosecuted two defendants for the 2001 Dartmouth College murders in Etna, New Hampshire.
As attorney general, Ayotte prosecuted the high-profile case surrounding the 2006 murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs in the line of duty. It resulted in a conviction and death penalty sentence. Members of Briggs' family praised her leadership in ads for her 2010 Senate campaign.
Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
In 2003, the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire found the Parental Notification Prior to Abortion Act, a New Hampshire law requiring parental notification of a minor's abortion, unconstitutional, and enjoined its enforcement. In 2004, New Hampshire Attorney General Peter Heed appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which affirmed the district court's ruling. In 2004, Ayotte appealed the First Circuit's ruling to the Supreme Court, over the objection of incoming Governor John Lynch. She personally argued the case before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court unanimously vacated the district court's ruling and remanded the case back to the district court, holding that it was improper for the district court to invalidate the statute completely instead of just severing its problematic portions or enjoining its unconstitutional applications. In 2007, the New Hampshire legislature repealed the law, mooting the need for rehearing by the district court.
In 2008, Planned Parenthood sued to recover its attorney fees and court costs from the New Hampshire Department of Justice. In 2009, Ayotte, as attorney general, authorized a payment of $300,000 to Planned Parenthood to settle the suit.
New Hampshire Institute of Politics
While attorney general, Ayotte served as a member of the Public Advisory Board at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. In 2011, she returned to the Institute as a senator to talk to political science students.