With the Nov. 3 general election coming up, NHPR is sitting down with the candidates for governor to discuss top issues in the race and ask questions submitted by listeners and readers.
Cinde Warmington, an attorney and former executive councilor from Concord, is the Democratic nominee.
Here are some takeaways from her interview with NHPR. A full transcript of this conversation with All Things Considered host Julia Barnett follows below.
On housing
- Warmington said she would create a new state position of “housing czar” to focus on housing inventory and affordability.
- She also promised investments in the Affordable Housing Fund, a state-administered loan program managed by New Hampshire Housing, to leverage federal funds.
On data centers
- Warmington is calling for an immediate moratorium on AI data centers in New Hampshire. She said the state needs to protect itself from skyrocketing electric rates and begin environmental impact studies as needed.
On local or state agreements with ICE
- “At the state level I do not believe that we should be cooperating with an organization that has been shown to be lawless, to be putting masked thugs on the street, terrorizing communities around our state.”
On her past work as an opioid company lobbyist
- Warmington said her representation of Purdue Pharma was 25 years ago. She said the pharmaceutical company lied to doctors and the FDA.
- “I've been very, very clear that if I had known at the time what we all learned later, I would have had nothing, nothing to do with this work. And I certainly regret having anything to do with this work, knowing what we all know now.”
What questions do you have about this year's elections? Let us know at voices@nhpr.org, and we could help you get the answers.
Find all of our 2026 election coverage here.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Rising housing costs continue to be a major issue for Granite Staters. As governor, what new ideas would you bring to address the housing crisis here?
Well, as you said, housing costs are through the roof here. We've hit record highs under Kelly Ayotte's administration. I'm hearing about it everywhere I go across the state. Young people who can't afford to buy a home. Young people who can barely afford to pay rent. I'm hearing from seniors who are having trouble staying in their homes because of the skyrocketing property taxes, yet there's no place for them to downsize to. There's just no place for them to go. Small businesses, large businesses can't hire people because of the housing crisis in our state.
This really needs to be taken head on. You may know that in our state, we actually have nobody accountable for knowing how many housing units we have, how many we need, and how we're going to get there. So first thing is, we're going to put in a housing czar who is going to be accountable for making sure we have a plan going forward. We're going to invest in the Affordable Housing Fund, because that's a fund where for every dollar we invest, we can leverage three federal dollars for that. We have been leaving millions of dollars on the table that should be invested in the Affordable Housing Fund, and we're going to fund that Housing Champions program, which was working so well. Almost half of our housing starts came from Housing Champions communities last year, and Kelly Ayotte defunded that program.
There's so many more. We need to have all stakeholders at the table, but this is an all hands on deck problem that we need to tackle head on.
And the state has struggled with a tight budget historically. Where would this money come from to support these efforts?
This money was in the budget. And Kelly Ayotte decided to defund, for instance, the Housing Champions program. This is a matter of priorities and where you're going to put the priorities. Housing is a number one issue in the state, and it is going to affect not only the ability of people to stay here and raise their families here, but it affects the viability of our economy going forward. We absolutely have to be invested in this.
As winter approaches, many folks are facing soaring fuel and electricity costs on top of other affordability concerns they may already have. What will you do as governor to help mitigate energy costs for Granite Staters, both in the short and long term?
Well, I mean, first thing, we have to stand up and speak out about why energy costs are through the roof right now. As you mentioned, gas prices, heating oil prices are through the roof. That is largely because of Donald Trump's reckless war and his tariffs, both of things that Kelly Ayotte has simply refused to stand up and speak out about and defend Granite Staters.
Also skyrocketing electric prices, up 15% since Kelly Ayotte came into office, due largely because of her failed energy policies that just are simply hostile towards energy efficiency and renewable energy. That's where we need to be putting the emphasis so that we have an energy policy for the future that will make sure we are bringing down electric rates and not also appointing people to our public utilities commission, who will continue to cater to the utilities. We need people on that commission that are looking out for our ratepayers.
And when it comes to renewables, you've proposed getting to net-zero emissions by 2040. That's 14 years away. How realistic is that?
Well, I proposed 2040 in the last election, and that is when we had sort of record investments by the federal government in helping communities to do that. Under the Trump administration, of course, that money has gone away. So they've made the 2040 date impossible. But there needs to be a date out there somewhere where we are decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels.
I do want to clear up a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation of my position. I am not against all emissions. I'm not against gas-powered cars. I am not against gas stoves. I cook with a gas stove myself. And net zero does not mean zero. There are other ways that you take carbon out of the environment, both including forestry, but also technology, technology that isn't even developed yet. So there's, I think, an intentional effort to misrepresent my position on this.
You say that you would issue an executive order to place a temporary moratorium on large scale data centers in the state. What role should the state government have in the future of data centers in New Hampshire?
We need a moratorium. I stood with the people of Nottingham and called for a moratorium in this state while we put in guardrails to protect our state from the skyrocketing electric rates that come with these data centers, from the massive amount of water consumption and the noise that they emit. We need to put this moratorium in place now. It should have been in place in the last session. There was actually a bill that would have done both, but there was a bill for a moratorium. There was a bill to put in guardrails that would make sure that local communities have input and that we make sure that the ratepayers are protected, that we're protecting our water supply, that we're protecting people against this noise emissions. Kelly Ayotte provided no leadership on that, let that die. She will say that we have the same position. We do not. I want a moratorium and I want it now. Kelly is proposing something in her budget into the future. By the time that's enacted, we will have data centers in our state. They're already threatened. There's one threatened right here in Bow.
And you mentioned that there should be local input. How much should that be a state level decision and how much should that be up to local control?
Well, we need to look at how what the impacts are, right? We need to make sure that local communities are having input into whether we want these in our state and where. And it can't be just a single town, because the impacts may affect a number of communities and surrounding areas. For instance, in Bow, that plant is on the Merrimack River. If there are contaminants into the river, or if the water supply is being taken out of the river, it may affect other communities as well. So we need local communities and we need regulation at the state level to allow local communities to look at all aspects of this. We need environmental impact studies on this. So there is an absolute role that state government needs to play here.
Let's talk childcare. Costs are rising. Programs have shut down. Parents across the state are feeling the pinch. What does the state need to do to build up affordable childcare and make it easier for folks to access?
You are absolutely right. I have young families that are telling me they're not having a second child because they can't afford childcare. We have people that are sitting out, not in the workforce right now, because they can't afford childcare. We have employers who are saying they can't hire because their employees don't have access to affordable child care in this state. Kelly Ayotte defunded the workforce grants. These grants were helping us to both recruit and retain child care workers in our state, and we need to be invested in that. It's small money. It's $15 million out of all of our budget, and that is money that will go to really shoring up our child care system and helping to promote a viable economy into the future. We need to invest in the child care scholarship fund in our state. We need to be making sure that we are working with our high schools and our and our community colleges to build the workforce of the future in child care. And, you know, we need to be looking at home-based care. We know that that works, especially in rural areas and to help people who work off shifts. There's so much to be done at child care. We need all of the stakeholders at the table talking to them and making sure that we are providing a good, strong child care system for the future.
Numerous police departments in New Hampshire and the state police as well, have signed agreements with ICE to allow local officers to enforce some federal immigration law. Over the past year, a third of immigration arrests in New Hampshire were carried out by a local police department. Should New Hampshire be working with ICE in this capacity?
At the state level, I do not believe that we should be cooperating with an organization that has been shown to be lawless, to be putting masked thugs on the street, terrorizing communities around our state. We've seen the images of them zip-tying the hands of kids behind their backs, ripping babies out of their mothers arms. We know that they are separating families. They're terrorizing people. They are executing people in our streets. This is not an enforcement agency that we should be cooperating with in that way. Of course, we always cooperate to get violent criminals off of our streets. But that's not what's going on here. The Trump administration said they were going to go after the worst of the worst, but the very small percentage of these folks actually have any kind of criminal record. We need to make sure this is not who we are. In New Hampshire, we do not want a detention center here. And this is simply not who we are.
And as a clarifying question, other nearby New England states have a statewide ban on these 287(g) agreements. Those are the agreements to work in partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Would you support a ban on those agreements as governor?
I'm going to work with the Legislature on that.
You've recently said that there is a “cloud of corruption” over the state Supreme Court justices and that they should stop hearing cases, should there be additional oversight on the state Supreme Court. And if so, what role should the governor play in that?
Well, the most important role that the governor plays in the state, the state Supreme Court is appointing qualified justices who do not bring their politics to the court. And that is the problem we have with the court right now for, you know, we don't elect our judges in this state. We appoint them. We do that for a reason. We do that to keep the politics out of our court. And what's happened is there have been a number of political appointees to the court. Kelly Ayotte made the court completely Republican. That has not been consistent with the past, where we've had a balance on the Supreme Court. And she came out and testified in favor of Gordon McDonald to be our chief justice on the Supreme Court when his inability to separate his politics from his position was already very clear and well known. She brought a culture of corruption to our entire court. We have three other justices that are now being investigated for participating in the exact same conduct. We need justices appointed to our Supreme Court who are qualified and who are not bringing their politics to the court.
I want to ask you about your earlier work as a paid lobbyist with Purdue Pharma. You said you were misled about the risks of OxyContin, the painkiller manufactured by Purdue. But there was widespread knowledge at the time that it was addictive and dangerous. How do you square that for voters who might be hesitant to support you, given that part of your history?
Well, I think I've spoken about this quite a lot. You know, I have been profoundly affected by addiction in my life. It has really been my life's work. I have done a lot of volunteer work in this area, and I have dedicated myself throughout my life to making sure people have access to the health care they need. My own dad struggled with addiction most of his adult life. This work was 25 years ago and people did not know doctors were misled by Purdue Pharma. They were lied to, the FDA was lied to. The FDA did nothing to alert doctors and the medical community about the lies that Purdue Pharma was perpetuating, and it ended up in tragic, tragic circumstances. I've been very, very clear that if I had known at the time what we all learned later, I would have had nothing, nothing to do with this work. And I certainly regret having anything to do with this work, knowing what we all know now.
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