Democrat Deja Vu: First TV Ad Of 2026 Governor's Race A Rerun Of Joyce Craig's Attack On Cinde Warmington

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

In a case of Democratic deja vu, the first broadcast TV commercial of the 2026 governor’s race is a Joyce Craig attack ad hitting fellow Democrat Cinde Warmington over her history as a lobbyist for OxyContin.

Only this time, the ad is being paid for by the Republican Kelly Ayotte campaign.

Former Manchester Mayor Craig used the pharma lobbying issue against Warmington to defeat the executive councilor in the 2024 Democratic primary. On Monday, the same ad — with an Ayotte campaign intro — appeared once again on New Hampshire airwaves.

“The following is an unedited television ad from Cinde Warmington’s previous Democratic opponent,” the new voiceover says.

“Democrats have raised the alarm bells on opioid lobbyist Cinde Warmington’s record for years,” said Ayotte campaign spokesman John Corbett. “Warmington put her self-interest ahead of what was best for New Hampshire and she is absolutely disqualified from serving as our governor.”

Since announcing her candidacy in February, Warmington has been dogged by the opioid issue.

The controversy centers on Warmington’s 2002 lobbying efforts on behalf of Purdue Pharma. During legislative hearings, she testified against prescription restrictions and defended the maker of OxyContin by describing the highly addictive painkiller as a “miracle drug” with few side effects. During the 2024 campaign, Craig also hit Warmington on her subsequent legal and lobbying work for PainCare, a controversial network of local clinics frequently accused of acting as a “pill mill” that vastly overprescribed opioids during the height of New Hampshire’s addiction epidemic.

When Warmington filed her candidacy paperwork last week, reporters from left-leaning outlets like the New Hampshire Bulletin and Boston Globe pushed her on the opioid issue. Asked if she believed it was a major liability for her campaign, Warmington tried to turn the tables.

“I think Kelly Ayotte will keep attacking all day long, and I think that we need to make sure that people understand what the real costs are. If she’s concerned with substance abuse in this state, she’s done a lot to harm the people of this state.

“She’s just taken away health care, which means a lot of people with substance use disorder treatment are not going to end, so Kelly Ayotte is harming the people of this state right now,” Warmington said.

Before reporters could ask what Warmington meant by “taking away health care,” Warmington’s handler called an end to the presser. It’s apparently a reference to changes in Medicaid that require recipients at the top end of Medicaid eligibility — families earning more than $90,000 a year, for example — to contribute more in order to keep benefits steady for the lowest-income families.

Meanwhile, the Craig/Ayotte ad means the opioid issue will remain at the center of the campaign for governor at least a while longer.

The question now is whether Craig will come to the rescue of her fellow Democrat and distance herself from the rerun attack. Sources tell NHJournal Craig is still smarting over Warmington’s attacks in 2024, targeting Craig’s husband and his work as an attorney.

During the 2024 WMUR debate, Warmington pointed out that Craig had signed a financial disclosure form under oath indicating a personal financial interest in the law firm of her husband, attorney Michael Craig. Warmington explicitly charged that the firm was “profiting off the traffic of drugs” through its legal defense work.

“She is still pretty angry,” one political insider told NHJournal on background.

Veteran GOP strategist Dave Carney said whatever happens next on the OxyContin issue, the damage has already been done.

“Warmington’s been branded the ‘Queen of Opioids.’ Without serious money, which she does not have nor will she get, she’s toast.”

Update

In response to Kelly Ayotte’s first television ad of the cycle, Warmington Communications Director Jon Levin released the following statement.

“After two years, it’s telling that Kelly Ayotte's first ad is an attack that doesn't list a single accomplishment and all Kelly can do is dust off a stale, pathetic hit on her opponent. Kelly has nothing to show for her record apart from a private school voucher scheme that drives up property taxes, rolling out the red carpet for data centers, continued failure to take on Trump for his illegal tariffs, and housing prices that just climbed to another record high.

“No wonder she has the worst approval numbers of any first-term New Hampshire governor in more than 30 years, and Cinde Warmington already has this race down to a single-digit margin. It shouldn’t come as a surprise when Cinde trounces Kelly this November.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.