Cinde Warmington

Talking points in opposition to Kelly Ayotte

Here are some highlights from Ayotte's voting record:

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U.S. Senate, 2011–2017

• Affordable Care Act — voted repeatedly for repeal. Ayotte supported repealing the ACA and eliminating major provisions such as the individual mandate. Implication: Full repeal without a comparable replacement would have eliminated or altered the ACA’s insurance subsidies, Medicaid expansion framework, marketplace coverage and insurance regulations.

• Federal minimum wage — opposed increase to $10.10 (2014). Ayotte voted against advancing the Minimum Wage Fairness Act. Implication: The legislation would have raised the federal minimum from $7.25 to $10.10 over several years; her vote helped prevent it from advancing. The vote was 54–42, short of the required 60. 

• Paycheck Fairness Act — opposed it in 2012. Ayotte voted against advancing legislation intended to strengthen remedies against sex-based wage discrimination. Implication: The legislation would have strengthened employees’ ability to challenge unequal pay and limited employers’ defenses for pay disparities. 
  Important qualification: Ayotte later voted in 2014 to allow consideration of a subsequent Paycheck Fairness bill, so I would not characterize her record simply as uniformly opposing the measure. 

• Manchin-Toomey background checks — voted NO (2013). She opposed the post-Sandy Hook compromise expanding background checks to additional commercial gun sales, including gun-show and internet transactions. Implication: The proposal would have subjected more gun purchasers to the federal background-check system while preserving exceptions for many private transfers.

• Planned Parenthood — supported defunding it. Implication: Federal funding, principally reimbursements for non-abortion health services such as contraception, cancer screening and STI services, would have been withdrawn from Planned Parenthood.

• Abortion — supported a federal 20-week abortion prohibition. Implication: It would have imposed a nationwide restriction on most abortions after 20 weeks, subject to specified exceptions.

• Buffett Rule — opposed it (2012). Ayotte voted against advancing the Democratic proposal for a minimum tax on very high-income taxpayers. Implication: The proposal was intended to prevent million-dollar earners from using preferential investment-income tax rates to pay substantially lower effective rates than many wage earners.

• Keystone XL — supported it. Implication: Would have authorized construction of the cross-border Keystone XL oil pipeline, contrary to the Obama administration and most Senate Democrats’ position.

• EPA/environmental regulation — supported several Republican efforts to restrict EPA authority. Implication: Generally favored reducing federal regulatory burdens on energy producers, including fossil-fuel facilities, while Democrats argued those regulations were necessary for climate and pollution control.

• Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination (2016) — opposed confirmation and supported waiting until after the presidential election. Implication: President Obama’s nominee never received a Senate confirmation vote, leaving the Supreme Court vacancy for the next president to fill. Donald Trump subsequently appointed Neil Gorsuch.

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Governor — legislation she signed that Democrats opposed

• SB 295 (2025) — Universal Education Freedom Accounts — SIGNED. Removed the income limitation on New Hampshire’s EFA program, allowing families at all income levels to receive state money for qualifying private-school and homeschool expenses. Implication: Dramatically expands school choice; Democrats argue it diverts state resources from public education, while supporters argue education funding should follow students. 

• HB 10 (2025) — Parental Bill of Rights — SIGNED. Gives parents extensive rights to obtain information about their child’s education and activities. Implication: Strengthens parental control over schools, but LGBTQ advocates argue its disclosure requirements could result in schools revealing a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to parents in some circumstances. 

• HB 377 (2025) — Gender-affirming medical treatment for minorsu — SIGNED. Prohibits puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors for purposes of gender transition. Implication:

  HB 712 restricts specified breast surgeries for minors; combined with HB 377’s restrictions on puberty blockers, hormones and other covered treatment, the laws substantially restrict gender-transition medical care for minors

• HB 712 (2025) — Gender-transition surgery — SIGNED. Further restricts gender-affirming surgical treatment for minors. Implication: Together with HB 377, effectively bars the principal forms of medical gender-transition treatment for people under 18 in New Hampshire. 

• HB 511 and SB 62 (2025) — Anti-sanctuary-city laws — SIGNED. Require greater local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and prohibit sanctuary policies. Implication:Local governments have less discretion to limit cooperation with ICE; HB 511 requires municipalities to comply with ICE detainers when specified conditions are met. 

• Bail reform/tougher pretrial detention (2025) — SUPPORTED/SIGNED. Ayotte made tightening New Hampshire’s bail system a major priority. Implication: Makes it easier in specified circumstances to hold defendants before trial rather than release them, emphasizing public safety over the concerns about pretrial incarceration that drove earlier Democratic-backed bail reforms.​