Outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu receives a standing ovation entering Representatives Hall Thursday for Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s inauguration.

Above, Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s mother Kathy Veracco gestures Terry Pfaff.

All photos above and more below were taken by InDepthNH.org’s Paula Tracy

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – Thursday was a day of new beginnings at the State House when leaders past, present and possibly future gathered at the State House, warm from the bitter cold and blowing snow outside, for the inauguration of the first female Republican governor of the state and the first new governor in eight years.

It was time to say goodbye to the former Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican who decided against running for a fifth term and welcomed Kelly Ann Ayotte, 56, of Nashua as the state’s 83rd governor.

Ayotte, a former U.S. Senator and New Hampshire Attorney General, defeated Democrat Joyce Craig in November to take the corner office.

Above, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, at left, is pictured Thursday.

Ayotte was sworn in by Gordon MacDonald, the chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court at noon at the podium in Representatives Hall, surrounded by her family of four, Senate President Sharon Carson and House Speaker Sherman Packard.

The room was much larger than that, however, with a packed balcony gallery of friends and well-wishers watching and listening, a large bank of television cameras with many visiting from the Boston stations, state commissioners and department heads in the Executive Branch, representatives, in fact, from all three branches of government and the military. They took seats in the 400-seat hall, with many chairs vacated by Democratic legislators many of whom failed to attend.

The entire 24-member state Senate, however, was in attendance.

The choreographed procession into the chamber, which began with the Senate, included a parade of familiar faces in the state’s political world which wound through the marble second floor of the State House and past the doors to the Governor’s office. The hallway included Supreme Court justices, decorated military, the Secretary of State and Treasurer, the now former governor Sununu, who enjoyed a standing ovation on his announced arrival in the chamber “for one last time,” and ended with a beaming Ayotte with her husband, LTC Joseph Daley (Ret.), a math teacher at Saint Christopher Academy’s Upper Campus in Nashua at her side, holding her address in a printed file in her hand.

Aleft are Republican Executive Councilors Janet Stevens,
John Stephen and David Wheeler.

After the invocation by The Rev. David Harris of Saint Christopher Catholic Church in Nashua and The Rev. Monsignor Richard Kelley, of Saint Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Nashua, the event included a posting of colors by the New Hampshire National Guard Color Guard, a Pledge of Allegiance by Natalie Healy, the National Anthem by Officer Taylor Morin of the Manchester Police Department, and administration of oaths not only for Ayotte but for the newly-elected five member Executive Council and was followed by the inaugural address.

After Ayotte spoke, a benediction was offered by Pastor Michael Worsley of the New Testament Christian Fellowship of Manchester and it was followed by a receiving line in the Executive Council chambers outside the governor’s office.

Major General David J. Mikolaites, the adjutant general for the New Hampshire National Guard led an Aide-de-camp to the Commander in Chief with colonels, majors and chief warrant officers in full dress uniform. 

Above, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH

The procession also included U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, D-NH, a former Democratic governor who defeated Ayotte for a second term as U.S. Senator, former Gov. Craig Benson, a Republican who first hired Ayotte, former First Lady Heather Merrill, wife of the late Gov. Steve Merrill who was also formative in her career, former Congressman Charles Bass, and others including Ayotte’s parents, and children Kate and Nate.

More photos below by Paula Tracy

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald chats with Executive Councilors Karen Liot Hill and John Stephen and Secretary of State David Scanlan.

Deputy Speaker of the House Steve Smith is pictured above.

Democratic State Senators Rebecca Perkins Kwoka and Debra Altschiller are pictured Thursday.

Former Republican U.S. Congressman Charles Bass

Former Gov. Craig Benson