Granite Staters will have a new governor in 2025. Gov. Chris Sununu is not running for reelection after eight years in office.
Leading up to the state primary on Sept. 10, we’re speaking with top candidates from both major parties in the gubernatorial race to hear where they stand on some of the biggest concerns on voters’ minds.
Read on for NHPR Morning Edition host Rick Ganley’s interview with Democrat and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington.
What questions do you have for the candidates running for Congress and governor in the 2024 election? What issues do you want them to address while seeking your vote? Share your thoughts here.
Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Transcript
Many voters that we've talked to are concerned about the high cost and low availability of housing here in New Hampshire. What would you propose to make housing more affordable for people renting or buying in the state?
We have a serious housing crisis. We're looking at being 60,000 units behind by 2030. It's really what's underneath our homelessness crisis, our workforce shortage, and the fact that so many of our young people can't afford to stay here in the state. On the Executive Council, I have fought and led the fight to make sure that our federal dollars are going to affordable housing and not luxury housing, but [the] state government cannot solve this problem on its own. We need private developers building in our state. And I've met with private developers all over the state, and they are really concerned about zoning ordinances. That is really the reason why they are not building in the state right now.
As governor, how could you help that situation?
So we need to first of all change the narrative around housing. We need to make sure that people understand this is not a 'not in my backyard' situation. The people you're keeping out of your backyard are your kids and your grandkids and your teachers and your firefighters and your police officers. And we need for communities to understand that the communities that build the housing first win. And that's how you attract a bigger tax base and families and then businesses. That's how you build vibrant economies.
And from a state level, we can really make sure that we are putting our economic development money in communities that are making the changes they need to accommodate the density of housing. We can also help communities build out infrastructure like water and sewer in our state. And something that I've done as executive councilor is making sure that our surplus land is getting back to the communities, and we're looking at some land right now in Conway that's going to go back to the community to build affordable housing. There's so much that needs to be done here. There's not a silver bullet, but we need to take an all hands on deck approach to this problem.
Something else we've heard from voters during this cycle is about reproductive rights. Specifically, abortion restrictions are a concern for many voters. You've been critical of New Hampshire's law that restricts abortion after 24 weeks, with some exceptions. What specific policy on abortion would you support as governor?
I trust women to make their own reproductive health care decisions. Granite Staters need to be able to have the freedom to plan and prevent and space their own pregnancies, and we do not need government interference in those decisions. I believe that we need to repeal this dangerous abortion ban.
I have called out Gov. Sununu my entire time on the council. I have been the one on the front lines fighting this fight day in and day out for four years now. And we need to repeal this abortion ban and replace it with access to safe and legal abortion in our state. And I just want to say that this is a very significant difference from my Republican opponent, Kelly Ayotte, who spearheaded a national abortion ban as a U.S. senator and who celebrated the overturning of Roe.
(Editor’s note: As a U.S. senator, Kelly Ayotte voted in favor of a 2015 bill that restricted abortion after 20 weeks, but she was not a sponsor of the bill. Learn more here.)
Specifically, what would you do as governor to facilitate that with a divided legislature?
First of all, I would say that I'm very optimistic that we're going to have majorities in the State House. There's a lot of energy around this ticket right now, and putting the strongest person in the governor's spot is the best way to ensure that we are going to win all the way down the ticket.
But setting that aside, the hallmark of my time on the Executive Council has been not only my ability to stand my ground, but also my ability to reach across that table and find the common ground. And so I believe I am in the best position to be able to work with Republicans and make sure that we are going to get over the finish line on this. We know that Republicans put forward some really extreme legislation — 15-day abortion ban, a 15-week abortion ban. If Kelly Ayotte is in the corner office, you can expect one of those bills to be signed.
(Editor’s note: Kelly Ayotte has said she would not sign a bill further restricting abortion beyond the current 24-week law restricting abortions in New Hampshire. Read more here.)
We've seen increasingly dangerous flooding events in recent years here in the Granite State, as well as surrounding states. And this speaks to infrastructure. What would you do to help cities and towns rebuild from these repeated flooding events? As the climate is becoming warmer and wetter, we're seeing more of these events and more problems with town and city infrastructure. What would you do to facilitate rebuilding that?
First of all, climate change is a real and imminent threat to our state, and I think I am the only one on the Executive Council that seems to be able to say 'climate' and 'change' in the same sentence. We need to tackle this problem. As Executive Councilor, I've been tackling this problem. I help other communities that are affected by flooding get the FEMA money, and also we need to be accessing the hazard mitigation funding to make sure we're building more resilient infrastructure so that we're better prepared for the future flooding and additional rainfall that we're seeing in our state.
Every two years you have to craft that state budget as a governor. I'm wondering about your priorities. You sat at the council table during that process as part of the executive branch. How does that inform your budget priorities if you were to be governor?
The budget is so critically important, and I've already been working
on this with state and House leadership, because I can't wait until I'm sworn in. The budget process has already started. We need a governor who makes a budget that sees things through the lens of the working families of our state. That's my priority — to build safe communities with good schools, with affordable housing, with child care, and make sure that we're building communities where our families can thrive in the Granite State.
We've seen tax cuts in the budget under Gov. Sununu's terms, which Democrats are mostly opposed [to]. Are you comfortable with the current tax rates, or would you consider raising them to fund these initiatives and your priorities?
I am absolutely opposed to any increase in any kind of broad based tax, and I would veto if it came to my desk. Honestly, the last thing that working families and small businesses need in our state is an additional tax burden. We're not going to do that. We're going to do just like Granite Staters do around their kitchen tables and build a budget from the ground up.
How do you do that and fund your priorities?
Well, no one is saying that we need additional revenues right now. We're working through the budget process. We are sitting down at the table just like we did in 2018. The Democrats put forward a balanced budget that reflected our priorities, and that's what we're going to do.
