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.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from Nashua, is seeking a second term in office.
Here are takeaways from her interview with NHPR. A full transcript of this conversation with All Things Considered host Julia Barnett follows below.
On housing
- Ayotte said affordable housing is the No. 1 economic challenge facing New Hampshire. She pointed to legislation adopted to address housing, including accessory dwelling units and permitting reforms to try to improve the process and make it easier to build.
On energy costs
- Ayotte supports development of small modular nuclear reactors because she said New Hampshire needs more energy.
- She said one thing she has focused on is making sure the state Public Utilities Commission has a focus on affordability and bringing costs down.
- She said it will be especially important as winter looms for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and partnering agencies to process home heating requests.
On data centers
- Ayotte noted she opposed data center proposals that came forward earlier this year in Nottingham and Bow.
- She’s called for a moratorium on data centers statewide. She said there are concerns about the amount of energy involved, as well as water and environmental impacts. She said her proposed moratorium would be part of the next state budget.
On childcare
- Ayote said childcare goes hand in hand with affordable housing as a top economic priority. She pointed to a childcare tax credit for businesses, which had bipartisan support.
On ICE agreements with local, state police
- Citing her past work as a prosecutor and attorney general, Ayotte said it’s important for local law enforcement to have working relationships with federal counterparts. She said the agreements with ICE are a local decision.
- Ayotte opposed an ICE plan to put a detention facility in Merrimack. She said she does not see a similar ICE facility coming to fruition in New Hampshire.
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.
So you've signed a number of bills to boost housing construction in the state. Obviously, that does take time, but housing prices are still at record highs and have not come down. What other policies will you pursue to make housing more affordable for Granite Staters?
I would say housing is so important. And affordable housing for the state, it's the number one economic challenge facing the state along with childcare. Without housing, it's hard for us to grow our workforce and also keep our young people here and allow everyone to age gracefully, so all age settings.
We did pass a dozen housing bills. They're focused on things like allowing ADUs, conversion of commercial to residential. We reformed permitting to make it easier so that you get a decision fast, so we can build more housing. And then also, some of the things that we're looking at is: what does the state own? We now have authority not only to sell state property, but also to lease it. I brought together a discussion with New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority and others to figure out how we could make sure that the state land is as high as its best use, and really looking at it for purposes of affordable housing.
Housing experts do say that even more money is needed to incentivize developers and jumpstart more affordable housing. Should New Hampshire be allocating more state money toward affordable housing construction?
Well, I think that when you look at these affordable housing projects — and I like to say workforce housing, because this is about the people that are in our communities and working and staying here — I think that it's really a combination. So all the projects that are successful are getting the private sector at the table, getting some, maybe perhaps even, HUD funding and federal and then some of the New Hampshire Housing financing. So that type of support is important. And making sure you're working with New Hampshire Housing to have that opportunity for them to provide that type of support.
But I will tell you that making sure that we take opportunities of all kinds to increase the supply of housing is how we're going to do this and make it easier to build. And then also, I mentioned the state land. What other types of land do we have that perhaps we could repurpose for affordable housing?
As winter approaches, many folks are facing soaring fuel and energy costs on top of other affordability concerns they may have right now. What are your plans to help mitigate energy costs for Granite Staters?
Yeah, energy costs are too high. We need more energy in the state. We also need to bring down costs in any way that we can. I'm really mindful that we're heading into a winter season, and we want people to be able to afford to heat their homes.
So some of the things that I've been focusing on is, number one, making sure that the Public Utilities Commission has a focus on affordability and bringing energy costs down. It's why I made some replacements, for example, the chairman, to be really focused on affordability. Also ISO New England, the owner of the grid, had recalculated the way that people were charged and their costs. So I advocated to them to be able to return with making sure that they are looking at costs and returning costs to ratepayers. So there's billions of dollars in that.
There's money that the utility companies have that they should be returning to ratepayers. I've joined other governors in New England asking them to do that, and they should do that right now. I'd like to see them do that right now as we head into the winter season.
Also other things like making sure, for example, LIHEAP [Low Income Energy Assistance Program] — it was something I supported as a U.S. senator — making sure that program is working well here in New Hampshire, that we get those dollars out well, we take care of those that need them. Working with our CAP agencies and the community partnerships to make sure that the people that need help, we try to get them the help that they need.
When it comes to energy, you're exploring the development of nuclear power to help meet the state's energy needs. That's still [in the] early stages, but how do you see nuclear energy fitting into our broader energy landscape here?
Yeah, I think that's also a really important issue. We do need more energy. So I have supported really the development of making sure that we can be on the forefront of cutting-edge technology like small modular nuclear reactors. So I asked the Department of Energy to come up with a plan [and] bring stakeholders together. They're very close to putting that out, of how do we position New Hampshire to have those opportunities early on? What's great about it is they're smaller reactors, less material, so more safe and also, carbon neutral — protect the environment. Also looking at other energy that we can bring to New Hampshire, for example, more natural gas, ways that we can bring down costs by having more energy opportunities for New Hampshire.
You said you plan to propose a statewide moratorium on data centers in the upcoming budget. But some towns are, right now, considering proposals from developers to build data centers. Is there anything the state can or should be doing now to help communities navigate these situations?
Well, I've been really clear. For example, there was a proposal that came forward potentially in Nottingham, and I opposed that proposal. There was one that was mentioned in Bow; I also opposed that one too. So I think that we're in a position where we should have a moratorium on data centers because of the energy issue that we just talked about, the amount of energy it takes to run a data center. I spoke to the head of the grid, ISO New England, and we can't sustain that without driving up energy costs. So I don't want that to happen. I want to bring energy costs down. There's also concerns about water and the impact on the environment, things like noise.
So in the interim, these proposals, to my knowledge, are not in a place where they're going to come to fruition. So this moratorium would stop those proposals, and we're going to make sure we get it done ASAP. That's why I'm putting it in the budget, and I look forward to working with the Legislature on both sides of the aisle. I think what we want is to make sure that our environment and that our communities here in New Hampshire are protected on energy and water and really noise and things that we all care about.
Let's talk about childcare. Costs are rising, programs have shut down. Parents across the state are feeling the pinch when it comes to trying to find access to childcare. What does the state need to do to build up affordable childcare and make it accessible for families?
We talked about the challenge of housing and childcare goes hand-in-hand with that challenge. I know that that's on the foremost of — you know, thinking of my own children and people I know and working mothers, working families. So what we've done is, the state has increased its eligibility for childcare scholarships and we've seen a very big uptake on those scholarships. So fully funding those is really important to me. I prioritized it in my budget. I'm going to continue to prioritize those scholarships because I've met so many families that are using them.
I was over visiting a manufacturing company in Milford. I talked to people on the floor that were working there saying, those scholarships have made a difference. I can work and I can afford childcare. Also making it easier to access those scholarships, making it easier — for example, I signed a law to be able to expand homecare, childcare. We still have to make sure all the safety things are there and protecting children, but some of those opportunities are really good in neighborhoods.
In addition to that, we passed on a bipartisan basis, a childcare tax credit for businesses. We want to encourage businesses to co-locate child care with their business because that's a great model and have affordable childcare to do that. In fact, I get to go to a development where that's going to be the case. It's going to be exciting. It's going to have Easterseals running the childcare and the workforce is right there and the housing is right there.
As governor, you've been vocal about encouraging local law enforcement to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. These are known as 287(g) agreements. Since last September, a third of immigration arrests in New Hampshire were carried out by a local police department. What do you make of how this relationship is working so far?
Well, having been a prosecutor and then attorney general, I have a really close relationship with law enforcement throughout the state. One of the things that has made us the safest state in the nation is really, I think, not only the work that our law enforcement does and their credentials and their focus on professionalism, but also the work and communication among agencies. And so one of the things that I think is important to keep everyone safe is to have that communication. State, local, federal.
And so these agreements — and by the way, each locality gets to decide whether they want to engage in that agreement or not. It's really a local decision. They can then work with each other and make sure that they're not missing information that protects officers, that protects the public, that protects the individual that perhaps you are looking to speak to because sometimes not having information is, really it's not good for anyone.
What would you say, though, to a constituent who might believe that local law enforcement shouldn't be involved in federal immigration enforcement tactics?
Well, what we're talking about is when crimes are committed. So when you see local law enforcement involved, it's because there's a criminal aspect to it. So what I would just say to them is, listen, the idea is really to make sure that New Hampshire remains safe, that we don't have, you know, crimes committed, that people are protected, they feel safe. And so I think that that cooperation is actually important.
What I can speak to is what I see happening with our law enforcement. They're very respectful of people and they try to cooperate to make sure that we don't have, for example, people that shouldn't be arrested, arrested, or we don't have a situation where someone is dangerous and has committed a crime and they're out, and because of a lack of communication, they aren't being held and protecting the public.
Earlier this year, you supported the town of Merrimack in its opposition to an ICE detention facility being built there…
Yes.
Would you be open to supporting a new immigration detention facility in the state if it had local support?
Listen, I don't — I think that that is a great example of, you know, let's make sure that we have a local voice. Let's make sure New Hampshire's voice is heard. When that came to that facility in Merrimack, clearly it wasn't, frankly, it was not where a facility like that should have been placed. And the local community was quite vocal about it.
I don't see this happening in New Hampshire. I don't see a facility coming here. And I would very much want to make sure that we're protecting our state. I think this is also an example of how I try to get things done. You know, I heard that community, I heard the concerns of our state on this ICE facility, and I went and I got it stopped. And I would do that every day of the week to make sure that our voices are heard and that New Hampshire is protected.
The state has set up a fund to compensate nearly 2,000 people who say they were abused at the state-run youth detention center. It could cost the state around $1 billion to settle pending claims, and it's unclear how that's going to be paid for. Are you satisfied with the current structure that we have to deal with this?
Listen, I was a prosecutor and I am very cognizant. I spent my life working with victims and making sure, so I think that if someone's been victimized, they should be treated well and they should also receive compensation if there's responsibility from the state for that.
So we have looked at the structure of this. There's a new administrator in place. He has a judicial background, which is an appropriate background. We want to make sure that people are treated fairly, so that process should work itself out. It's there as an alternative dispute process to the courts, and I think that if it's done properly, then hopefully people who have been victims of this situation will be compensated for it.
Is it financially sustainable for the state, though, to continue like this?
Well, my foremost responsibility as governor is always to make sure that we balance the budget and we handle fiscal responsibility. So we'll handle these things in a fiscally responsible way. But we also need to do it in a compassionate way.
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