More NH-GOV Infighting As Morse Condemns Ayotte for Failing to Renounce Jon Stone EndorsementLatest News Year in Review

More NH-GOV Infighting As Morse Condemns Ayotte for Failing to Renounce Jon Stone Endorsement

At a recent event in Nashua, Republican candidate for governor Chuck Morse went after his primary opponent, former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, for refusing to renounce state Rep. Jon Stone's endorsement.

According to Morse, "we have a law enforcement officer that threatened a rape and to kill a family. And we (Kelly Ayotte) haven't denounced the person yet. That, I would do."

Last month, it was reported that Rep. Stone "threatened to kill fellow police officers in a shooting spree, and murder his chief after raping the chief's wife and children, all while he was already under scrutiny for his inappropriate relationship with a teen girl." When given the opportunity to renounce Stone's endorsement in a recent appearance on WMUR's CloseUp, Ayotte refused.

This is just the latest in what has been an increasingly messy and combative GOP primary for governor. Morse called out Ayotte for hiding from New Hampshire voters after her refusal to participate in the Rockingham County GOP's debate forced them to cancel, saying "it's evident that Kelly has spent too much time in Washington if she believes she can evade scrutiny of her record here in the Granite State."

Morse has also gone on offense against Ayotte's record, accusing her of voting for "the largest amnesty legislation of its time," and "talk[ing] like a conservative but vot[ing] like a liberal." The increased infighting has forced the New Hampshire Republican Party to beg their candidates to stop attacking one another. As one anonymous Republican legislator noted, the "candidates are attacking each other while the Democrats are doing press conferences together."

"While New Hampshire voters look for a candidate who will take on the biggest challenges facing the Granite State, Kelly Ayotte and Chuck Morse are relentlessly focused on attacking each other in this increasingly messy primary," said DGA States Press Secretary Emma O'Brien. "The only thing these candidates are proving to voters as they take their shots at each other is how extreme, out of touch, and wrong they are for New Hampshire."

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