2024 NH Governor's race: on Families & Children

Kelly Ayotte: Contraception coverage is affront to religious liberty

Chuck Morse: A strong economy helps daycare, not worker pay

The Republicans, Morse and Ayotte, were more circumspect. Morse said his focus was to build on the school policies enacted under Gov. Sununu and to create state budgets that foster prosperity.

What about on the daycare front? Well, all of them acknowledged that daycare workers probably need to get paid more money, but some, Morse most emphatically, said there was little the state could do directly to affect that, other than having a stronger economy. For Chuck Morse, it's clear that all policies, including those dealing with child well-being, tie directly back to the state budget.

Ayotte, meanwhile, seemed to be pretty attuned to who was in the audience, mostly people in the child care and education fields.

Cinde Warmington: It's worth pursuing universal pre-K

What about on the daycare front? Well, all of them acknowledged that daycare workers probably need to get paid more money. Joyce Craig stressed her mayoral background and argued that it's equipped her to understand how to listen to what communities want.

For Warmington, who's pitched herself as the Democrat poised to fight for what she believes, we heard a willingness to be forceful. "Feed the children. Let's start with that," she said repeatedly at one point during her discussion.

Joyce Craig: It's worth pursuing universal pre-K

What about on the daycare front? Well, all of them acknowledged that daycare workers probably need to get paid more money. Warmington said repeatedly, "Feed the children. Let's start with that."

Joyce Craig, meanwhile, stressed her mayoral background and argued that it's equipped her to understand how to listen to what communities want when they deal with the state, and that she can deal with these issues from the perspective of someone who's had to lead locally.

Kelly Ayotte: Forgive college debt for people who work in mental health

What about on the daycare front? All of them acknowledged that daycare workers probably need to get paid more money. Ayotte seemed to be pretty attuned to who was in the audience at these events, mostly people in the child care and education fields, and she really pitched herself as someone wanting to solve problems and as someone opened to taking ideas from anywhere, which is a different vibe than her early campaign's focus that NH is on the verge of becoming Massachusetts.