Kelly Ayotte facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kelly Ayotte
Official portrait, 2011
United States Senator from New Hampshire
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Judd Gregg
Succeeded by	Maggie Hassan
27th Attorney General of New Hampshire
In office July 15, 2004 – July 17, 2009
Governor	Craig Benson John Lynch
Preceded by	Peter Heed
Succeeded by	Michael Delaney
Personal details
Born	Kelly Ann Ayotte (1968-06-27) June 27, 1968 (age 56) Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
Political party	Republican (2003–present)
Other political affiliations	Independent (before 2003)
Spouse	Joseph Daley ​ (m. 2001)​
Children	2
Education	Pennsylvania State University (BA) Villanova University (JD)

Kelly Ann Ayotte (/ˈeɪɒt/ AY-ott; born June 27, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Ayotte served as New Hampshire Attorney General from 2004 to 2009.

Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, Ayotte is a graduate of Nashua High School, Pennsylvania State University and Villanova University School of Law. She worked as a law clerk for the New Hampshire Supreme Court before entering private practice. She served as a prosecutor for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, and briefly served as the legal counsel to New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson, before returning to the Department of Justice to serve as Deputy Attorney General of New Hampshire. In 2004, Governor Benson appointed Ayotte as Attorney General of New Hampshire following the resignation of Peter Heed. She became the first and only woman to serve as New Hampshire's Attorney General. She was twice reappointed by Democratic governor John Lynch. Ayotte resigned from her position as Attorney General in 2009 pursue a bid for the U.S. Senate, after three-term incumbent Judd Gregg announced his retirement from the Senate.

In September 2010, Ayotte won a close victory over lawyer Ovide M. Lamontagne in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. She then defeated Democratic congressman Paul Hodes in the general election with 60 percent of the vote. Ayotte was mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. In 2016, Ayotte was defeated in her bid for reelection by Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan by a very narrow margin of 1,017 votes (0.14 percent). After President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court, the administration chose Ayotte to lead the White House team escorting the nominee to meetings and hearings on Capitol Hill.

She is a candidate for New Hampshire's 2024 gubernatorial election.

Early life, education, and career

Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 27, 1968, the daughter of Kathleen M. (née Sullivan) and Marc Frederick Ayotte. Her father's family is of French–Canadian descent. Ayotte attended Nashua High School and received a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University in political science. While at Penn State, she was initiated into the Delta Gamma sorority. In 1993, Ayotte received a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she had served as editor of the Environmental Law Journal.

Ayotte clerked for Sherman D. Horton, associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, for one year. From 1994 to 1998, she was an associate at McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, a Manchester law firm.

In 1998, Ayotte joined the office of the New Hampshire Attorney General as a prosecutor. In 2001, she married Joseph Daley, a pilot in the National Guard. In 2003, Ayotte became legal counsel to Governor Craig Benson. Three months later, she returned to the Attorney General's office as Deputy Attorney General. In June 2004, Governor Benson appointed Ayotte as Attorney General of the State of New Hampshire after Peter Heed resigned. Ayotte had both of her children while serving as the first and only female New Hampshire Attorney General.

New Hampshire Attorney General

Clean air emissions standards

Ayotte joined Attorneys General from eight other states to sue federal regulators over a rules change that made clean air emissions standards for power plants less strict and eliminated clean air reporting and monitoring requirements.

In 2005, the court agreed with Ayotte and the others that the Environmental Protection Agency must measure changes in the emissions from power plants and could not exempt power plants from reporting their emissions.

New Hampshire Institute of Politics

Ayotte served as a board member of the Public Advisory Board at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College while Attorney General. In March 2011 she returned to the Institute as a senator to talk to political science students.

On May 28, 2013, Ayotte attended a forum at Saint Anselm College to explain the Never Contract With the Enemy Act (S. 675), which she co-sponsored with Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). She was accompanied by Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen. They addressed military contractor fraud and how to prevent funds paid to military contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq from winding up in the hands of parties hostile to the United States.

U.S. Senate

Elections

2010

Ayotte resigned as attorney general on July 7, 2009, to explore a run for U.S. Senate in 2010. The crowded Republican primary field included former congressional and gubernatorial candidate Ovide M. Lamontagne, businessman and owner of NH1 News William Harrison Binnie, and State Representative Tom Alciere. Ayotte had never run for office, but narrowly won the primary election on September 14, 2010. In the general election, Ayotte defeated Democratic nominee U.S. Representative Paul Hodes, Libertarian nominee Ken Blevens, and Independent Chris Booth with 60 percent of the vote.

Endorsements

Senator Ayotte speaking for 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Ayotte was endorsed by John McCain, Sarah Palin, John Thune, Tom Coburn, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, and Rick Santorum. According to one senior GOP aide, "The addition of a Republican woman from New England who's young, who's a mom … all of these things broaden the Republican party's appeal and say to different segments of the population, 'This party has folks in it that are just like you.'"

2016

In 2016, Ayotte ran for reelection to the U.S. Senate against Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire's sitting governor.

In February 2016, the Koch Brothers-linked conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity announced that Ayotte was the lone vulnerable Republican U.S. Senator the group would not be supporting in 2016, due to Ayotte's support for the Clean Power Plan to combat climate change.

On May 4, 2016, an Ayotte spokeswoman said Ayotte "intends to support the Republican nominee" for U.S. president but did not plan to make an endorsement.

Ayotte lost the election to Hassan by 1,017 votes.

Endorsements

Ayotte was endorsed by the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Nashua Telegraph, the Caledonian-Record, and the Portsmouth Herald. The Herald endorsement was notable as it had endorsed Ayotte's opponent, Maggie Hassan, in Hassan's prior runs for office.

Tenure

Jobs and the economy

Ayotte partnered with Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, to offer the Manufacturing Skills Act and the Manufacturing Universities Act. Both bills were aimed at better preparing students for 21st century jobs and connecting graduates with employers who have jobs sitting open for lack of skilled workers.

She helped include provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act to boost STEM education, particularly among girls and underrepresented minorities, and to support career and technical education in schools.

Ayotte strongly opposed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's proposal to pass significant at-sea monitoring costs to New Hampshire's fishermen and brought NOAA officials to New Hampshire to hear from fishermen impacted. NOAA later backed off from the proposal.

National security

Ayotte served on the Senate Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, and was widely regarded as a leader on national security and foreign policy.

Ayotte led legislative efforts to keep suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay rather than closing that base and transferring them to U.S. soil.

She has been an outspoken critic of the Iran nuclear deal, saying that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. She proposed strict new sanctions on Iran.

Ayotte was critical of the Obama administration's response to ISIS, and released a plan to combat ISIS.

College affordability

She offered the Student Loan Relief Act to allow borrowers to refinance their student loans at interest rates lower than the federal rate.

Ayotte cosponsored legislation to establish a single, simplified income-driven student loan repayment option and to make it easier for employers to assist their employees with loan repayment.

Ayotte was a vocal proponent of reauthorizing the Perkins Loan program, as she argued roughly 5,000 New Hampshire students relied on it.

Ayotte supported making the money that parents save for their kids' college tax-free.

Military and veterans issues

Ayotte routinely included provisions in annual defense authorization bills that supported the work being done at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Pease Air National Guard Base, and by the New Hampshire National Guard. She is also strongly opposed to further rounds of the base realignment and closing commission.

Ayotte included provisions in the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 to allow New Hampshire veterans to receive medical care closer to home.

She was the only member of the New Hampshire delegation to vote against a budget proposal the singled out veterans' benefits for cuts. She has offered and cosponsored legislation to give veterans access to cutting edge prosthetics, strengthen mental health services for veterans and their families, and improve the support system for military families.

Fiscal policy and taxes

Ayotte supported tax reform to simplify the tax code and lower rates. She has said she believes it would help bring back trillions of dollars parked overseas.

In December 2015, Ayotte voted to suspend the Medical Device Tax, which she says threatens nearly 3,500 manufacturing jobs in New Hampshire. She is also a leading opponent of the Internet sales tax.

Ayotte supported a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and helped pass the Senate's first balanced budget in fourteen years.

Ayotte offered a variety of legislation to eliminate wasteful spending and duplicate or unnecessary programs.

Women and family policies

Ayotte offered the Gender Advancement in Pay Act to implement New Hampshire's equal pay law at the federal level, as explained under in "Labor issues".

Ayotte and Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen co-sponsored a bill to combat pregnancy discrimination in the workplace and ensure expectant mothers can continue working during their pregnancy.

She offered and cosponsored legislation to make it easier for employers to offer flex-time to working parents and to expand access to affordable childcare.

Legislation

Ayotte sponsored 217 bills, including:

112th Congress (2011–2012)

• S. 944 and S. 982, bills to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention camp open, to prohibit prisoners held there from being released back to their country of origin, and to prohibit the construction or modification of any facilities used to house any individual under detention at Guantanamo, introduced May 11 and 12, 2011
• S. 1704, a bill to reduce the number of strategic airlift aircraft used by the United States Air Force from 316 to 301, introduced October 13, 2011
• S. 1996, a bill to require the Congressional Budget Office to release macroeconomic reports alongside its budget reports for major bills and resolutions (which the bill defines), introduced December 15, 2011, reintroduced in the 113th Congress as S. 184
• S. 2320, a bill to treat Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Republic of the Philippines as a permanent military cemetery in a foreign country under the purview of the American Battle Monuments Commission, and to have the Commission restore and maintain the cemetery, introduced April 19, 2012. While this bill did not become law, an agreement has since been made between the U.S. and Philippine governments to do what the bill intended.

113th Congress (2013–2014)

• S. 31, a bill to permanently ban state and local governments from imposing taxes on the access to the internet and on goods sold by means of the internet, introduced January 22, 2013.
• S. 263, a bill to prohibit federal agencies from hiring more than one employee for every three full-time employees who leave employment from that agency until the Office of Management and Budget determines that employment in that agency is at least 10% less than it was previously, and to prohibit members of Congress from receiving a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in their pay in years in which the federal government has a budget deficit, introduced February 7, 2013.
• S. 862, a bill to allow certain individuals to be exempted from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's minimum essential health care coverage requirements if one's religious beliefs would cause them to object to medical care provided under any of the requirements, introduced May 6, 2013.
• S. 1406, introduced July 31, 2013, a bill to permit the Secretary of Agriculture to issue regulations for the issuance of permits for people hired for the management of horse shows, exhibitions, auctions, and sales, requiring all such individuals to be qualified to identify instances of soring. Individuals receiving the permits must be cleared of any potential conflicts of interest and preference is to be given to accredited veterinarians. The bill further makes it a crime for any person to sell, auction, exhibit, or race any sore horse, and bans Tennessee Walking Horses, Racking horses, and Spotted Saddle horses from being sold, auctioned, exhibited, or raced if they are equipped with any action device (which the bill defines) or equipment that would alter the gait of the horse. A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 1518.
• S. 1764, a bill to prohibit the Department of Defense from retiring the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II until a sufficient number of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs have been constructed to replace the existing A-10s, introduced November 21, 2013.
• S. 1869, a bill to repeal the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the COLA to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62, and to require individuals claiming the refundable portion of the child tax credit to include their Social Security number on their tax returns, introduced December 19, 2013. The first part of this bill is identical to another bill, S. 1963, sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor.
• S. 1977, which has the same provisions as S. 1869, but also requires the name and Social Security number of the qualifying child of the individual claiming the tax credit to be on the tax return, introduced January 30, 2014.
• S. 2355 and S. 2377, bills to exempt from the federal income tax any benefits received from a disability program for public safety officers if such disability was acquired as a result of an injury sustained in the line of duty, introduced May 20 and 21, 2014.

Committee assignments (114th Congress)

Senator Ayotte meets with junior officers of New Hampshire National Guard

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support (chair)
  • Subcommittee on Seapower
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security (chair)
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
  • Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management
• Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Awards

During her time in the Senate, Ayotte received a number of awards for her legislative activity from various civic organizations and interest groups, including the National Retail Federation, CCAGW PAC, the AARP, Save the Children, the New Hampshire Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Association of Police Organizations, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

After the Senate

Ayotte has been named to several corporate boards of directors, including Caterpillar Inc., News Corp., BAE Systems, Boston Properties, Blink Health, Bloom Energy, and Blackstone Group.

2024 New Hampshire gubernatorial election

After Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire announced he would be retiring at the end of his term in 2024, Ayotte announced her intention to run for governor.

Political positions

Senator Ayotte speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

Ayotte opposes increasing the minimum wage, and opposes federal legislation to index the minimum wage to inflation, reflecting adjustments in the cost of living. Ayotte said she supports the current federal minimum wage, but that "each state should decide what is best" when it comes to raising it.

In 2010, Ayotte said she was open to raising the Social Security retirement age for younger workers in an effort to avoid long-term insolvency, but does not support changes for people at or near retirement.

Ayotte voted in April 2014 to extend federal funding for unemployment benefits. Federal funding had been initiated in 2008 and expired at the end of 2013.

In March 2015, Ayotte voted for an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow employees to earn paid sick time. Ayotte also offered a bill to give private sector employers the statutory authority to offer optional flex-time.

Ayotte favors passage of a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She has advocated for such a constitutional amendment as a member of the Senate Budget Committee.

In 2010, when asked about climate change, Ayotte acknowledged that "there is scientific evidence that demonstrates there is some impact from human activities" but stated that "I don't think the evidence is conclusive." In 2013, she voted for a point of order opposing a carbon tax or a fee on carbon emissions.

While in the Senate, Ayotte supported proposed compromises on contentious gun legislation. She was part of a bipartisan group of eight senators who supported compromise legislation to close the "No Fly, No Buy" loophole and ensure people on the No Fly list are not able to purchase firearms.

Personal life

In 2001, Ayotte married Joseph Daley, an Iraq War veteran and former A-10 pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq. Daley is retired from the Air National Guard and owns a small landscaping and snow plow business in Merrimack. Ayotte is Catholic. She and Daley have two children.

Electoral history

See also

In Spanish: Kelly Ayotte para niños

In Spanish: Kelly Ayotte para niños

• List of female state attorneys general in the United States
• Women in the United States Senate