Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte will win GOP primary to succeed Gov. Chris Sununu in New Hampshire

(CNN) — Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte will win the Republican primary in New Hampshire’s race for governor, according to The Associated Press, advancing to what is expected to be a competitive general election to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Chris Sununu.

Ayotte is projected to defeat a crowded primary field that included former state Senate President Chuck Morse. She will next face former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, who is hoping to be the first Democrat to be elected governor of the Granite State in a decade. Craig is projected to win what had been a bitter primary against Cinde Warmington, who serves on the state’s five-member Executive Council.

Sununu, who emerged as a national figure largely because of his criticism of former President Donald Trump, opted against seeking a fifth two-year term, announcing last year that “the time is right for another Republican to lead our great state.”

New Hampshire’s prominence in presidential primaries – as well as its independent streak – have made it the closest thing to a political battleground in otherwise overwhelmingly Democratic New England.

Both Sununu and longtime Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster are retiring after this year.

Ayotte, who had the governor’s endorsement, has said that she would keep New Hampshire on the “Sununu path” – a stark contrast to Morse, who offered himself as a strong Trump supporter.

Ayotte, a former state attorney general, was elected to her lone Senate term in 2010, and was soon seen as a rising star. However, six years later, she lost a close race to Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who has held the seat since.

During that 2016 race, Ayotte withdrew her support for Trump after the “Access Hollywood” tape emerged, saying at the time that she “cannot and will not support a candidate for president who brags about degrading and assaulting women.”

Ayotte reemerged in Washington during Trump’s presidency, guiding Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch through his Senate confirmation hearings in 2017.

2nd District race

Meanwhile, in the race for Kuster’s seat in the state’s competitive 2nd Congressional District, former congressional and White House aide Maggie Goodlander will win a hard-fought contest for the Democratic nomination, according to The Associated Press.

Goodlander, the wife of President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is projected to defeat Colin Van Ostern, a former member of the state Executive Council who lost a close race for governor to Sununu in 2016.

The primary has been marked by negative attacks from both sides. An ad from VoteVets, which supports Democrats from military and national security backgrounds and is backing Goodlander, called Van Ostern a “perennial candidate” and attacked his business record.

Kuster, who had endorsed Van Ostern, her onetime campaign manager, then appeared in an ad for him in which she said that Goodlander “hasn’t lived in our district for decades” and that she “gave thousands to pro-life Republicans.” Kuster told Politico that the VoteVets spot against Van Ostern prompted her to get involved: “New Hampshire has never seen a negative attack ad like that in a Democratic ad.”

Goodlander was raised in the 2nd District. She rented a home there shortly before launching her campaign and has described herself as a “renter.” But The New York Times reported that she and Sullivan also own a $1.2 million home in Portsmouth, outside the district. Federal Election Commission records also show that Goodlander contributed to the campaigns of former Republican Rep. Justin Amash, who voted to impeach Trump in 2019, and to a Republican who was challenging former hard-line North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn in 2020.

Democratic former Gov. John Lynch, who served from 2005 to 2013, initially endorsed Van Ostern but then withdrew his support, lambasting the candidate’s campaign for what he described as negative tactics. He backed Goodlander instead and cut an ad for her.

Lynch told WMUR he was “appalled” by the ad featuring Kuster, which questioned Goodlander’s commitment to protecting abortion rights.

Goodlander will be the heavy favorite against Republican Lily Tang Williams in the Democratic-leaning district in November.

This story has been updated with an additional projections.

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