CONCORD, NH (AP) — In one of the most competitive markets in the country gubernatorial racesNew Hampshire voters are choosing between a candidate trying to move from local to state office and another looking to bring federal experience to the House of Representatives.

Former Democratic mayor of Manchester Joyce Craig faces former Republican US senator Kelly Ayotte in Tuesday’s election to replace the Republican governor. Chris Sununuwho declined to seek a fifth two-year term. Either woman would become the third woman elected governor of New Hampshire, following Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both now in the Senate.

It was a narrow loss to Hassan in 2016 that ended Ayotte’s tenure in Washington after one term. Before that, Ayotte spent five years as the state’s attorney general and often highlighted his past as a prosecutor during his campaign.

Endorsed by Sununu ahead of the September Republican primary, Ayotte vowed to continue his anti-tax, pro-business economic policies. He used the slogan “Don’t Mass it up” to criticize the more liberal southern Massachusetts, while accusing Craig of supporting tax increases and blaming her for crime, homelessness, and drug overdose deaths in the city. most populated in the state.

“If you’re a retiree or saving for retirement, she’s already said in this campaign that she’s going to raise your taxes,” Ayotte said during a recent debate, referring to Craig’s support for reinstating a tax on interest and dividends. “If in a contested campaign she’s willing to talk about raising taxes, imagine what she’ll do when she’s governor.”

Craig, who served on Manchester’s school board and aldermen before being elected as the city’s first female mayor in 2017, emphasized her executive experience. She said it prepared her to confront the state’s housing crisis, strengthen public schools and expand access to reproductive health care.

She was particularly critical of Ayotte on the latter issue, pointing to Ayotte’s Senate votes to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate mandatory insurance coverage for birth control. Although Ayotte has said he would veto any bill that further restricts abortion, supported a 20-week ban as a senator. Craig described it as “the most extreme threat to reproductive freedoms our state has ever seen” and out of touch with state and local communities.

“Senator. “Ayotte has spent her entire career attacking reproductive freedom,” Craig said during a debate last week. “Her actions speak louder than her words and we cannot trust her.”

New Hampshire law prohibits abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy, except when the health or life of the mother is in danger or a fatal fetal abnormality exists.

While Ayotte enjoyed greater name recognition and fundraising, Craig benefited from a more unified party driven by the vice president. Kamala Harris at the top of the bill. On the contrary, Republicans are more fractured and Ayotte has a difficult history with the former president. donald trump. She withdrew her support for him in 2016 over his lewd comments about women, but now backs him again, saying his record was better than the Biden administration.