She’s made more than 100 stops across New Hampshire in her first 100 days.

She’s faced pushback from her own party on some of her early budget priorities.

She delivered on one of her major policy initiatives and has more political promises to keep.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte marked 100 days in office Saturday and took the occasion to highlight her accomplishments and what she hopes to achieve in the coming months.

The Republican governor, a former state attorney general who was convincingly elected governor last November, said she's been primarily focused on strengthening communities and protecting the state. And they point to the governor’s repeal of the 2018 state law that made it easier for suspects to avoid time in jail after their arrest.

Ayotte announced the creation of a new Highway Safety Task Force to address distracted driving, wrong-way driving, and speeding. She directed law enforcement agencies to help federal authorities enforce immigration laws, as well as a new partnership with the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, to combat drug trafficking.

“Since day one, we’ve focused on strengthening our communities, protecting what makes New Hampshire special, and leading our entire state to an even brighter future,” Ayotte said in a statement.

Not everyone agrees.

Amplify New Hampshire, a progressive public advocacy group, criticized Ayotte for not being more vocal about the impact of tariffs or federal funding cuts on the state.

“In just 100 days, Kelly Ayotte has handed Granite Staters higher prices, looming tax hikes, and silence when it mattered most,” said Ryan Mahoney, the group’s executive director. “While families pay more at the grocery store, on housing, and in property taxes, Ayotte’s failed to deliver results and has been absent when New Hampshire needs strong leadership.”

 Most importantly, Ayotte didn’t deliver on her promise to lower costs, Mahoney said.

“Kelly Ayotte has had 100 days in office — what does New Hampshire have to show for it? Less money in our pockets and an empty chair in the corner office,” Mahoney said.

Ayotte’s staff noted progress in other areas, including her signing of a new law to help finance new housing construction, her push for a bill to address the housing shortage, and her proposed 60-day state permitting process.

On education, Ayotte’s team noted the governor’s efforts to increase funding for public schools, her push to expand the state’s education freedom accounts, and Ayotte’s move to remove cell phones from classrooms.

At the top of Ayotte’s to-do list over the next couple of months is completing passage of the two-year state budget, which is currently making its way through the GOP-controlled legislature. 

The governor, in her February budget address, proposed belt-tightening. But Ayotte will be negotiating with the state Senate to restore cuts to her budget made by state House Republicans. Among her top priorities cut by lower chamber lawmakers – who cited inadequate resources – was mental health funding.

With only a handful of public opinion polls conducted so far on Ayotte’s tenure steering New Hampshire, it’s hard to firmly say where she stands with Granite Staters. That said, the few surveys that have been released indicate that the governor’s approval ratings are comfortably in positive territory.

“Gov. Ayotte will rightly point to a number of successes she’s achieved in her first hundred days in office. Atop that list will be the bail reform legislation recently signed into law,” said longtime New Hampshire-based political scientist Wayne Lesperance, who is president of New England College in Henniker.

Lesperance added that “also of importance is the energy and enthusiasm she brings to the role not unlike that of her predecessor Chris Sununu. With over 100 stops across the Granite State in 100 days, Kelly Ayotte has turned retail campaigning into retail governing - and Granite Staters approve.”

While there’s been a bit of political drama in Concord, it pales in comparison to the fireworks in the nation’s capital, as Trump’s sweeping and controversial moves continue to dominate headlines. Trump has been expanding the powers of the presidency, upending long-standing government policy and making major cuts to the federal workforce through an avalanche of executive orders and actions.

Meanwhile, the president’s blockbuster moves to increase tariffs on countries around the globe sparked economic anxieties and inflation concerns, increased talk of a recession, and triggered a massive stock market sell-off that affected Americans from coast to coast.

Ayotte mentioned her apprehension over the chaos caused by the Trump tariff whiplash.

“I have real concerns about how a trade war will hurt our economic competitiveness, and I have heard from many Granite Staters that share similar concerns,” Ayotte said earlier this year. “I appreciate that President Trump is fighting to get the fentanyl poison off our streets and secure our border, but I don’t want it done to New Hampshire’s disadvantage. I encourage a quick resolution of this situation so that families don’t unnecessarily bear the brunt of increased costs when prices are already high.”

Former Gov. Chris Sununu, Ayotte’s Republican predecessor who served four straight two-year terms steering New Hampshire, was known, among other things, for his frenetic pace, including his ‘603 Days,’ which celebrated and promoted the Granite State.

Ayotte’s team noted that since she was elected, ”the Governor has made over 120 stops across our state to hear directly from Granite Staters about the issues that matter most to them.”

Goodlander staying put

New Hampshire’s two Democratic U.S. House members won’t be facing off in a primary showdown in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

 Rep. Maggie Goodlander, who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Concord, announced that she’ll run for re-election in 2026 rather than bid for the open Senate seat.

The Nashua-native, who was just elected to Congress last November, endorsed fellow Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the state’s burgeoning Senate race. Pappas, the four-term representative in New Hampshire’s 1St Congressional District, earlier this month declared his candidacy for the Senate.

 Goodlander had been considering a Senate run since last month’s announcement by Shaheen that she wouldn’t seek a fourth six-year term in the Senate.

“I am humbled by the encouragement I have received from so many Granite Staters to consider a run for the United States Senate,” Goodlander said in a statement to supporters. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting your trust in me. After a period of reflection, I have decided to seek re-election to the United States House of Representatives.”

 Goodlander said that the best way for her to “serve this state and our country in this pivotal moment” is “by doing the job I hold right now – a job I’ve truly loved doing every day for the past 104 days – to the best of my ability.”

 “That means devoting everything I’ve got to delivering for the people of the Second District and standing up to the cascading outrages and cruelties of the Trump Administration,” she added.

Goodlander also pointed to next year’s midterm elections, when Democrats aim to topple the Republicans razor-thin majority in the U.S. House and win back control of the chamber.

“Taking back the House is the most consequential thing we can do to check the excesses of President Trump and chart the path forward for New Hampshire and America,” she said.

With Goodlander deciding against a Senate bid, New Hampshire Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t be facing – at least as of now – a potentially bruising primary in the race to succeed Shaheen in the key New England swing state.

 The seat is one of the top targets of Republicans who hope to expand their 53-47 majority in the U.S. Senate.

 Chris Sununu announced last week that he would forgo a 2026 run for the U.S. Senate.

 Sununu, who left office in January with very positive approval and favorable ratings after winning election and re-election to four straight two-year terms, was seen by national Republicans as the strongest candidate to win the seat. However, he was not the only Republican mulling a Senate bid in New Hampshire.

 Former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who later moved to New Hampshire and narrowly lost to Shaheen in the 2014 election, is seriously considering a 2026 run.

 Brown, who served four years as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand during Trump’s first administration, has been holding meetings with Republicans across New Hampshire for a couple of months and has met multiple times with GOP officials in the nation’s capital.