Hide Transcript Show Transcript

WITH THAT AND LOOK TOWARDS THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND, COMING UP IN A FEW MINUTES. ERIN: FIRST ON NEWS 9, TODAY ELIZABETH WARREN IS LANDING AN ENDORSEMENT IN THE FIRST IN THE NATION PRIMARY. 2018 DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR GOVERNOR MOLLY KELLY IS BACKING WARREN IN HER BID FOR THE WHITE HOUSE. A FORMER FIVE-TERM STATE SENATOR, KELLY LOST TO GOVERNOR CHRIS SUNUNU IN 2018. SHE WAS PURSUED BY NEARLY EVERY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR HER ENDORSEMENT AND SAYS WARREN WON OUT ON THE STRENGTH OF HER POLICY PLANS >> EVERYBODY WHO MEETS ELIZABETH WARREN IS INSPIRED BY HER. THEY ARE INSPIRED BY HER ENERGY. THEY’RE INSPIRED BY HER THINKING THAT WE CAN IMAGINE WHAT I POSSIBLE, BUT THE THING ABOUT ELIZABETH WARREN IS SHE HAS PLANS. ERIN: SENATOR WARREN WE

Advertisement Former gubernatorial nominee Molly Kelly endorses Elizabeth Warren for president Kelly calls Massachusetts senator ‘inspiring,’ with ‘core understanding of economic injustice’

Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Former state Sen. Molly Kelly, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor, on Tuesday weighed into her party’s presidential primary race with an endorsement of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.>> Download the FREE WMUR appThe former five-term state senator shared her decision to back Warren first with WMUR’s political team in an interview. Kelly’s endorsement is a major “get” for Warren as she continues to rise in polling in New Hampshire and nationally, to now share the front-runner position with former Vice President Joe Biden.Kelly was highly sought after by virtually all the Democrats running for president due to the high level of respect she has garnered over the years from party activists across the state.The Harrisville resident and former education and organizing consultant said that while she is impressed by the Democratic presidential field in general, Warren “really connects with me because of her core understanding of economic injustice.”“I have been with many candidates,” Kelly said. “We have seen them come through our state. Everybody who meets Elizabeth Warren is inspired by her -- by her energy, her thinking that we can imagine what is possible. But the thing about Elizabeth Warren is she has plans to make sure what we imagine is possible.“I haven’t seen anyone have as much energy as Elizabeth Warren, who is speaking from her heart, from her experience, who knows the issues the way that she does,” Kelly added.“She’s running for president on many of the same issues that I have advocated for throughout my entire life,” citing public education, family leave, reproductive rights and climate change. “Most of all, she is putting families and children first, and that’s why I’m supporting her.”During Kelly’s campaign for governor, among her top issues was paid family and medical leave, which Warren has championed during her presidential campaign.Kelly’s endorsement comes a week after her announcement that she will not be a candidate for governor in 2020. She ran a tough race against Republican Gov. Chris Sununu last year, losing by a margin to 53 percent to 47 percent.Kelly also said last week that she will not be a candidate for the District 2 Executive Council seat next year, after being urged by supporters to consider running for the post being vacated by Councilor Andru Volinsky, who is on the verge of running for governor.Kelly is a graduate of Keene State College who raised three children as a single mother. In the 1990s, she was director of continuing education for Franklin Pierce University’s Keene campus and was later director of the Hospice of the Monadnock Region. She was a retirement financial adviser for the Variable Annuity Life Insurance Corp. from 1997 to 2009.More recently, she was a consultant on education issues and on community organizing for progressive causes. She was chair of the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women from 1998 to 2003 and vice chair of the Healthy New Hampshire Foundation from 1999 to 2003.Kelly was elected to the state Senate in 2006 and re-elected in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 before deciding not to seek a sixth term in 2016.Her endorsement comes during the campaign’s “Women for Warren Month of Action.” Among the Granite State women leaders Kelly is joining in backing Warren are state Reps. Jackie Chretien and Wendy Thomas and activists Joan Jacobs and Kathleen Kelly. The Warren campaign said, “Across the state, women are organizing, knocking doors, and talking to friends and family about why they are all in for Elizabeth Warren.”Kelly will attend events for the New Hampshire for Warren team as the campaign moves forward.Warren said a statement, “I’m honored to have Molly in our fight for big, structural change. Molly has been a progressive leader for the Granite State in making sure our government works for all of us, not just those at the top. Her support means the world to me.”A Saint Anselm College poll last week showed Warren trailing Biden by a single percentage point for the lead in the first-primary state. The Real Clear Politics average of New Hampshire polls has Warren trailing Biden, 21 percent to 23.2 percent, while the RCP national average has Warren, at 26 percent, in a dead heat with Biden, at 26.5 percent.