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Former New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who refused to back then-GOP nominee Donald Trump in 2016, now says she’s definitely on the Trump Train.

Ayotte, who is running for governor in what has become the most in-play state for Republicans along the deep-blue East Coast, spoke about her conversion in an exclusive interview with Fox News.

“Under Joe Biden, things cost more, and we’re less safe. There’s no question that we are worse off than we were than when President Trump was in office,” Ayotte told the outlet. “I’m supporting President Trump because I believe we need to change courses for the nation.”

Support for the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, given his significant influence over the party, appears to be a straightforward decision for nearly all Republicans running for elective office in 2024. For Ayotte, however, aligning with the nominee carries particularly significant implications.

Ayotte, a rising star in the Republican Party in 2016, was a former state attorney general and first-term senator, with a growing national security profile as she sought re-election. Just before the 2016 election, she withdrew her support for Trump due to the “Access Hollywood” controversy. In a years-old video, Trump made extremely crude comments about grabbing women without their consent.

“I cannot and will not support a candidate for president who brags about degrading and assaulting women,” Ayotte said at the time. She went on to lose her reelection to the Senate by a thin margin of around 1,000 votes. She was defeated by then-Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.

However, Ayotte outperformed Trump in New Hampshire, as Hillary Clinton edged the White House winner by less than 3,000 votes.

Before permanently relocating to New Hampshire, Ayotte stayed in Washington, D.C., for a short period after her Senate term ended to help guide Neil Gorsuch, then-President Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, through his successful confirmation process.

Following her Senate career, Ayotte experienced a financially rewarding period, serving on corporate boards and in advisory roles for various public and private companies. One notable position was with News Corp., which was formerly the parent company of Fox News.

During the intervening years, Ayotte maintained a strong connection to New Hampshire politics, occasionally attending Republican Party events in the state. She also continued to contribute to public discourse by writing opinion pieces addressing major state, national, and international issues.

Nearly a year ago, Ayotte announced her candidacy for governor after the popular Republican Governor Chris Sununu declared he would not seek re-election in 2024 for what would have been an unprecedented fifth two-year term, Fox reported. Ayotte remained neutral in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary but endorsed Trump in early March, right after he clinched the GOP nomination.

“He’ll fix the disaster over the southern border, and we’re also seeing it on the northern border to keep the country safe,” Ayotte told Fox News. She further noted that Trump “also has a different vision in terms of freedom and taxes” and argued that Biden “has really, unfortunately, been a disaster for the country, and we need a change.”

Ayotte is currently the front-runner in both polling and fundraising for the GOP nomination in New Hampshire’s early September primary. However, she has faced repeated criticisms from her rival, former longtime state Senate president Chuck Morse. Morse, who finished second in a crowded field during the 2020 U.S. Senate Republican primary, has been a vocal critic of Ayotte in the race.

“I think there’s a big difference between myself and Kelly Ayotte,” Morse said last week when he filed to run for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. “I started as a conservative, and I finished as a conservative as Senate president, and I promise you, I will be a governor that’s a conservative.”

Ayotte responded: “I am a commonsense, strong conservative, and I’m going to continue this state down the path that Gov. Sununu has. And we’re going to have even brighter days ahead.”

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