New Hampshire's former GOP Sen. Ayotte will 'definitely' look at 2022 bid, sources say
Ayotte, who lost her 2016 reelection by a razor-thin margin, has stepped up political activity in recent months
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte was back in the political spotlight this week.
The Republican from New Hampshire, who served as the Granite State’s attorney general before winning election to the Senate in 2010, testified on Thursday in support of the state’s current GOP attorney general's nomination for state supreme court chief justice.
It’s the latest example of Ayotte increasing her political profile over the past year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NRSC CHAIR SCOTT PREDICTS DEMOCRATS' 'OVERREACH'
Then-Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire speaks to reporters during her 2016 re-election campaign.
And it comes amid mounting speculation over whether she will launch a Republican challenge against Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who as the state’s incumbent governor in 2016 defeated Ayotte by a razor-thin margin of just 1,017 votes.
There’s also speculation that Ayotte might run for New Hampshire governor if current, popular three-term GOP Gov. Chris Sununu decides to seek the Senate seat or decides not to run for elective office in 2022.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Given how well regarded she was as a senator by both parties and given how close the race was last time, I think she will definitely look at the Senate race," a political consultant inside Ayotte’s orbit told Fox News on Friday.
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"Whether she decided to run for the Senate or perhaps considered running for governor, I think she’ll be a terrific candidate and a terrific public servant," added the consultant, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As Republicans aim to win back the majority in the chamber from the Democrats in 2022, they’ll be defending 20 of the 34 seats up for grabs in the next midterm elections. As they play plenty of defense, the National Republican Senatorial Committee -- the reelection arm of Senate Republicans -- also sees Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire as potential pick-up opportunities to flip a blue seat red. And Sununu and Ayotte are both on the radar of national Republicans.
Sununu told Fox News last month that he wouldn’t have a decision on his political future for months, saying at the time: "I really don’t have any set timetable."
"I’m sure she’ll have discussions with Chris Sununu," the consultant told Fox News. "They’re friends and they’re two great Republicans. They’ll figure it out."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire holds a coronavirus pandemic briefing
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A separate GOP strategist close to the former senator noted that after losing the 2016 election, Ayotte "focused on her family and figuring out career work and business work… I think that’s natural that after you lose an election, you first focus on getting your bearings and figuring out your life as a private citizen."
But the strategist, who also asked for anonymity to speak more freely, emphasized that "here in these last elections, she worked hard for Republican candidates in New Hampshire and around the country."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ayotte’s increased visibility is also putting her back on the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s (NHDP) radar.
In November, the state Democratic Party spotlighted on Twitter an interview Ayotte gave on Fox News regarding then-President Trump’s refusal to concede the presidential election to Joe Biden.
"Kelly Ayotte went on Fox and said 'the president will make his own decision' about whether to accept the results of the election -- enabling Trump's attacks on our democratic system and putting her own political interests ahead of the well-being of our country," the NHDP tweeted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And last week, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, state Democratic party chair Ray Buckley charged that "Kelly Ayotte’s silence on the domestic terrorist attack at the Capitol, incited by President Trump, and the death of two Capitol Police officers, reinforces that she will always put her own political interests ahead of the well-being of our country."
Ayotte’s history with Trump is complicated. During a debate with Hassan in the 2016 general election, Ayotte called Trump a role model, but quickly reversed herself. She broke off her support of the then-GOP presidential nominee after Trump’s controversial 2005 "Access Hollywood" comments surfaced.
Political pundits have pointed to her distancing from Trump just ahead of the 2016 election as a contributing factor in her narrow defeat.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Ayotte served as a so-called "Sherpa" for Neil Gorsuch after then-President Trump in early 2017 nominated the federal appeals court judge to the Supreme Court.