Republican former US Sen. Kelly Ayotte sworn in as 83rd governor of New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte was sworn as the 83rd governor of New Hampshire on Thursday, promising to bring people together and build on the state's successes while also warning that budget cuts are coming.

“I am going to be a governor for you, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, independent, you name it, because our state is so much bigger than a party or an ideology,” she said. “Good government knows no party, so let’s show the folks that when partisanship is at a fever pitch, we can set a different example.”

Ayotte succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, whose decision against seeking a fifth two-year term set up on one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country. Promising to continue Sununu's anti-tax, pro-business economic policies, Ayotte defeated five opponents in September’s GOP primary and Democratic former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in the November election.

In her inaugural speech, Ayotte said she would keep the state on a prosperous path but warned that belt-tightening would be necessary as lawmakers write the next two-year budget.

“We are going to have to look for better ways to do things with less money,” she said. “Just like a family making hard decisions, there’s things we can not skimp on — protecting our most vulnerable and those in our state most in need ... but we do have to carefully look across our budgets of every agency and find the savings to deal with the financial realities we face."

Ayotte is the third woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire, following Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both of whom are now U.S. senators. They were the first and second women in the nation to serve in the Senate after being governor. Ayotte is the first woman to do so in reverse, according to Eric Ostermeier, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota and author of the Smart Politics news site.

While more than 150 sitting or former governors have become senators, Ayotte is among just 23 sitting or former senators elected governor since 1900, Ostermeier said. In an interview in October, Ayotte said that experience will serve her well.

“Not only do I understand how Washington works, but also how to fight for New Hampshire. I still have relationships there, across the aisle, with important people making decisions in Washington,” she said. “So I do feel like it does broaden my skill set as governor doing this in reverse.”

A narrow loss to Hassan in 2016 ended Ayotte’s tenure in Washington after one term. Before that, Ayotte spent five years as the state’s attorney general, and she often highlighted her past as a prosecutor during her campaign.

She repeated that Thursday, saying her top priority remains keeping the state safe. She also cited the state's housing crisis as a top issue she plans to tackle, and she praised Republicans for expanding the state's school voucher program. Without offering details, she also announced plans to ban cellphones in schools, and taking a page from President-elect Donald Trump, said she is creating a Commission on Government Efficiency. Ayotte's agency will be led by Republican former Gov. Craig Benson and businessman Andy Crews.

“We need to make sure that government is operating more like the lean process of manufacturing where waste is eliminated at each step in the process,” she said.

Ayotte has had a rocky history with Trump, rescinding her support for him in 2016 over his lewd comments about women before backing him again last year. Despite the 2016 snub, she shepherded Justice Neil Gorsuch through his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he joined in overturning Roe v. Wade.

On Thursday, she reiterated that will veto any bill further restricting abortion in New Hampshire, where the procedure is illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy. And though the state’s Democratic Party chairman was quick to accuse her of following in Trump’s footsteps and putting the state on a “dangerous” path, she tried to strike a bipartisan tone.

"Protecting what makes us unique is so much more important than one person or one party,” she said. “Please know this: Even when we don’t see eye to eye, I will always look to bring us together.”

Former N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu is recognized by Republican Kelly Ayotte during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, waves while arriving with her husband Joseph Daley during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, smiles while addressing the House Chamber during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, addresses the House Chamber during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, addresses the House Chamber during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, addresses the House Chamber during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, addresses the House Chamber during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, embraces her husband Joseph Daley during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator who succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, in sworn in during her inauguration at the State House, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday struck down abortion restrictions by conservative cities and counties at the request of the state attorney general.

The unanimous opinion reinforces the state’s position as having some of the most liberal abortion laws in the country. The ruling preserves access to abortion procedures across a state that has become a major destination for people from other states with bans, including neighboring Texas.

Attorneys representing the cities of Hobbs and Clovis and Lea and Roosevelt counties had argued that provisions of a federal “anti-vice” law known as the Comstock Act block courts from striking down local abortion ordinances.

Writing for the majority opinion, Justice C. Shannon Bacon said that state law precludes cities and counties from restricting abortion or regulating abortion clinics.

“The ordinances violate this core precept and invade the Legislature’s authority to regulate access to and provision of reproductive healthcare,” she wrote. “We hold the ordinances are preempted in their entirety.”

Opposition to abortion runs deep in New Mexico communities along the border with Texas, which has one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S.

But Democrats, who control every statewide elected office in New Mexico and hold majorities in the state House and Senate, have moved to shore up access to abortion — before and after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the nationwide right to abortion.

In 2021, the New Mexico Legislature repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures as felonies, ensuring access to abortion even after the Roe v. Wade reversal.

And in 2023, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill that overrides local ordinances aimed at limiting abortion access and enacted a shield law that protects abortion providers from investigations by other states.

In Thursday's opinion, justices said they "strongly admonish” Roosevelt County, in particular, for an ordinance that would have allowed individuals to file lawsuits demanding damages of more than $100,000 for violations of the county's abortion ordinance.

The provision would have created "a private right of action and damages award that is clearly intended to punish protected conduct,” the court said in its opinion.

FILE - The New Mexico Supreme Court Building is seen, Jan. 9, 2023, in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

FILE - New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez listens to oral arguments dealing with local municipalities implementing ordinances restricting abortion, Dec. 13, 2023 in Santa Fe, N.M. . (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, file)