Kelly Ayotte facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kelly Ayotte
Official portrait, 2011
United States Senator from New Hampshire
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Judd Gregg
Succeeded by	Maggie Hassan
27th Attorney General of New Hampshire
In office July 15, 2004 – July 17, 2009
Governor	Craig Benson John Lynch
Preceded by	Peter Heed
Succeeded by	Michael Delaney
Personal details
Born	Kelly Ann Ayotte (1968-06-27) June 27, 1968 (age 55) Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
Political party	Republican (2003–present)
Other political affiliations	Independent (before 2003)
Spouse	Joseph Daley ​ (m. 2001)​
Children	2
Education	Pennsylvania State University (BA) Villanova University (JD)

Kelly Ann Ayotte (/ˈeɪɒt/ AY-ott; born June 27, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Ayotte served as New Hampshire Attorney General from 2004 to 2009.

She is a candidate for the 2024 New Hampshire gubernatorial election.

Early life and education

Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 27, 1968, the daughter of Kathleen M. (née Sullivan) and Marc Frederick Ayotte. Her father's family is of French-Canadian descent. Ayotte attended Nashua High School and received a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University in political science. While at Penn State, she was initiated into the Delta Gamma sorority. In 1993, Ayotte received a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she had served as editor of the Environmental Law Journal.

Career

Kelly Ayotte's son, Jake, age 2, helps her cast her ballot

Senator Ayotte speaking for 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Kelly Ayotte kicks off her 2016 campaign as her daughter, Kate, cheers in the background

Senator Ayotte speaking at the 2016 FITN (First in the Nation) Town Hall hosted by the New Hampshire Republican Party

Ayotte worked as a law clerk for the New Hampshire Supreme Court before entering private practice. She served as a prosecutor for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, and briefly served as the legal counsel to New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson, before returning to the Department of Justice to serve as Deputy Attorney General of New Hampshire. In 2004, Governor Benson appointed Ayotte as Attorney General of New Hampshire following the resignation of Peter Heed. She became the first and only woman to serve as New Hampshire's Attorney General. She was twice reappointed by Democratic governor John Lynch. Ayotte resigned from her position as Attorney General in 2009 pursue a bid for the U.S. Senate, after three-term incumbent Judd Gregg announced his retirement from the Senate.

In September 2010, Ayotte won a close victory over lawyer Ovide M. Lamontagne in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. She then defeated Democratic congressman Paul Hodes in the general election with 60 percent of the vote. During her tenure, she helped include provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act to boost STEM education, particularly among girls and underrepresented minorities, and to support career and technical education in schools. Ayotte included provisions in the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 to allow New Hampshire veterans to receive medical care closer to home. She was the only member of the New Hampshire delegation to vote against a budget proposal the singled out veterans' benefits for cuts. She has offered and cosponsored legislation to give veterans access to cutting edge prosthetics, strengthen mental health services for veterans and their families, and improve the support system for military families.

She supported making the money that parents save for their kids' college tax-free. Ayotte cosponsored legislation to establish a single, simplified income-driven student loan repayment option and to make it easier for employers to assist their employees with loan repayment. She offered the Gender Advancement in Pay Act to implement New Hampshire's equal pay law at the federal level. She also offered and cosponsored legislation to make it easier for employers to offer flex-time to working parents and to expand access to affordable childcare.

Overall, Ayotte sponsored 217 bills, including:

112th Congress (2011–2012)

• S. 944 and S. 982, bills to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention camp open, to prohibit prisoners held there from being released back to their country of origin, and to prohibit the construction or modification of any facilities used to house any individual under detention at Guantanamo, introduced May 11 and 12, 2011
• S. 1704, a bill to reduce the number of strategic airlift aircraft used by the United States Air Force from 316 to 301, introduced October 13, 2011
• S. 1996, a bill to require the Congressional Budget Office to release macroeconomic reports alongside its budget reports for major bills and resolutions (which the bill defines), introduced December 15, 2011, reintroduced in the 113th Congress as S. 184
• S. 2320, a bill to treat Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Republic of the Philippines as a permanent military cemetery in a foreign country under the purview of the American Battle Monuments Commission, and to have the Commission restore and maintain the cemetery, introduced April 19, 2012. While this bill did not become law, an agreement has since been made between the U.S. and Philippine governments to do what the bill intended.

113th Congress (2013–2014)

• S. 31, a bill to permanently ban state and local governments from imposing taxes on the access to the internet and on goods sold by means of the internet, introduced January 22, 2013.
• S. 263, a bill to prohibit federal agencies from hiring more than one employee for every three full-time employees who leave employment from that agency until the Office of Management and Budget determines that employment in that agency is at least 10% less than it was previously, and to prohibit members of Congress from receiving a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in their pay in years in which the federal government has a budget deficit, introduced February 7, 2013.
• S. 862, a bill to allow certain individuals to be exempted from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's minimum essential health care coverage requirements if one's religious beliefs would cause them to object to medical care provided under any of the requirements, introduced May 6, 2013.
• S. 1406, introduced July 31, 2013, a bill to permit the Secretary of Agriculture to issue regulations for the issuance of permits for people hired for the management of horse shows, exhibitions, auctions, and sales, requiring all such individuals to be qualified to identify instances of soring. Individuals receiving the permits must be cleared of any potential conflicts of interest and preference is to be given to accredited veterinarians. The bill further makes it a crime for any person to sell, auction, exhibit, or race any sore horse, and bans Tennessee Walking Horses, Racking horses, and Spotted Saddle horses from being sold, auctioned, exhibited, or raced if they are equipped with any action device (which the bill defines) or equipment that would alter the gait of the horse. A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 1518.
• S. 1764, a bill to prohibit the Department of Defense from retiring the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II until a sufficient number of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs have been constructed to replace the existing A-10s, introduced November 21, 2013.
• S. 1869, a bill to repeal the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the COLA to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62, and to require individuals claiming the refundable portion of the child tax credit to include their Social Security number on their tax returns, introduced December 19, 2013. The first part of this bill is identical to another bill, S. 1963, sponsored by Senator Mark Pryor.
• S. 1977, which has the same provisions as S. 1869, but also requires the name and Social Security number of the qualifying child of the individual claiming the tax credit to be on the tax return, introduced January 30, 2014.
• S. 2355 and S. 2377, bills to exempt from the federal income tax any benefits received from a disability program for public safety officers if such disability was acquired as a result of an injury sustained in the line of duty, introduced May 20 and 21, 2014.

Committee assignments (114th Congress)

Senator Ayotte meets with junior officers of New Hampshire National Guard

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Seapower
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
  • Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management
• Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

In 2016, Ayotte was defeated in her bid for reelection by Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan by a very narrow margin of 1,017 votes (0.14 percent). After President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court, the administration chose Ayotte to lead the White House team escorting the nominee to meetings and hearings on Capitol Hill.

After Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire announced he would be retiring at the end of his term in 2024, Ayotte announced her intention to run for governor.

Political positions

Senator Ayotte speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)

Ayotte opposes increasing the minimum wage, and opposes federal legislation to index the minimum wage to inflation, reflecting adjustments in the cost of living. Ayotte said she supports the current federal minimum wage, but that "each state should decide what is best" when it comes to raising it.

In 2010, Ayotte said she was open to raising the Social Security retirement age for younger workers in an effort to avoid long-term insolvency, but does not support changes for people at or near retirement.

Ayotte voted in April 2014 to extend federal funding for unemployment benefits. Federal funding had been initiated in 2008 and expired at the end of 2013.

In March 2015, Ayotte voted for an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow employees to earn paid sick time. Ayotte also offered a bill to give private sector employers the statutory authority to offer optional flex-time.

Ayotte favors passage of a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She has advocated for such a constitutional amendment as a member of the Senate Budget Committee.

In 2010, when asked about climate change, Ayotte acknowledged that "there is scientific evidence that demonstrates there is some impact from human activities" but stated that "I don't think the evidence is conclusive." In 2013, she voted for a point of order opposing a carbon tax or a fee on carbon emissions.

While in the Senate, Ayotte supported proposed compromises on contentious gun legislation. She was part of a bipartisan group of eight senators who supported compromise legislation to close the "No Fly, No Buy" loophole and ensure people on the No Fly list are not able to purchase firearms.

Awards

During her time in the Senate, Ayotte received a number of awards for her legislative activity from various civic organizations and interest groups, including the National Retail Federation, CCAGW PAC, the AARP, Save the Children, the New Hampshire Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Association of Police Organizations, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Personal life

In 2001, Ayotte married Joseph Daley, an Iraq War veteran and former A-10 pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq. Daley is retired from the Air National Guard and owns a small landscaping and snow plow business in Merrimack. They have two children.

Electoral history

See also

In Spanish: Kelly Ayotte para niños

• List of female state attorneys general in the United States
• Women in the United States Senate