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Union Leader: Donna Soucy: “2026 is Year Democrats Can Take Back the Governor’s Office”
MANCHESTER, NH — In Case You Missed It, a new Union Leader column from former State Senate President Donna Soucy highlights the latest UNH polling showing Cinde Warmington now within five points of defeating Kelly Ayotte — “narrowing the gap three points” — and New Hampshire Democrats’ opportunity this year to take back the governor’s office.
Read the column here and below.
Union Leader: Donna Soucy: 2026 is Year Democrats Can Take Back the Governor’s Office
In case you missed it amidst the July 4th festivities and fireworks, let me fill you in on an important piece of news: a late-June poll from the University of New Hampshire shows Cinde Warmington now within five points of defeating Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
Not only that, Cinde is rapidly gaining ground — narrowing the gap three points from the last poll — despite a barrage of negative attacks from the Ayotte campaign.
There’s clearly an upset in the making here, with Cinde on the path to victory.
Kelly Ayotte isn’t just vulnerable — she has the worst job approval ratings of any first-term New Hampshire governor in more than 30 years.
Yes, that includes her old boss, Craig Benson. And you remember what happened there: Democrat John Lynch won that 2004 election, denying Benson a second term in a come-from-behind campaign.
Ayotte now has a net job approval rating of +2 — weak for a sitting governor headed into the fall. The public polls also show Ayotte getting failing grades on the issues important to voters like the high cost of housing and skyrocketing property taxes.
It’s no wonder voters’ skepticism about Ayotte is increasing given that Kelly Ayotte’s school voucher scheme is raising property taxes. She slashed affordable housing solutions and raised health care premiums. Her budget cuts left children in the state’s care at risk, because there was less funding for the independent watchdog to fully protect them. And now, with New Hampshire in the bull’s-eye for those looking for a place to drop a data center or an ICE human warehouse, Ayotte has failed to stop them.
All this, while Kelly has hitched her campaign to President Trump’s harmful policies. Here in New Hampshire, Trump’s approval is at its lowest point in almost a decade, 38%, with 62% disapproving, according to the same UNH poll.
In 2024, Ayotte was telling us Trump was the “right choice” for president.
Now, she’s cowering in the corner office, refusing to challenge the Trump tariffs that slammed our small businesses, the reckless cuts that are leaving thousands of people here without health care and even his failure to sign bipartisan housing legislation to bring down costs. And not a word from her about Trump’s historic self-dealing and corruption.
Then there’s Cinde. She’s a tough and fearless candidate who knows what it’s like to take on tough fights — just like she did as the only Democrat on the Executive Council. She’s laser-focused on tackling the issues that keep Granite Staters up at night, like whether they’ll be able to put a roof over their heads and put food on the table. She’s also a formidable opponent — in addition to closing in on Ayotte, she raised more than $600,000 in just under four months.
So here we are, in a midterm election with a reckless, unpopular, corrupt president and signs of a surge bringing out record numbers of voters — many of them new voters — to support Democrats who will stand up to him, like Cinde.
If the recent wins here in our state are any indication — from Democratic gains at the local level to Bobbi Boudman’s incredible win of a legislative seat in a ruby-red Trump district — we have real momentum riding into November.
This is a race everyone should be watching. Kelly Ayotte is in big trouble — because of her failed record and her refusal to challenge Donald Trump. That’s what the latest data is telling us.
That same data is also telling us that Cinde Warmington can win — and let me be clear: working families across our state need Cinde fighting for them as Governor.