N.H. Gov. Maggie Hassan challenges Kelly Ayotte for Senate

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan announced Monday she’s running against GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate, saying Washington has “lost its way” on priorities that matter to the Granite State.

The announcement gives Democrats a strong candidate in a key swing state as they try to win back the Senate in 2016. Hassan won a second term as governor with 52% of the vote in 2014 and was also re-elected last year as vice chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association.

“To continue working to realize our state’s full potential, we need a response from Washington that meets the progress we’re making here at home,” she said in her announcement video.

Hassan touted her work to promote business innovation, freeze tuition at state universities, balance the state budget and begin fixing infrastructure.

Ayotte issued a statement welcoming Hassan to the race and looking forward to "a very spirited campaign."

“As a working mom who commutes from Nashua every week, I’m guided by the concerns and solutions you share with me," she stated. "In the Senate, I fight every day for better opportunities and a brighter future for our kids and our state."

Ayotte, who is in her first term, is vulnerable largely because she is running in a swing state in a presidential year “rather than anything she has or hasn't done,” Jennifer Duffy, of The Cook Political Report, wrote, calling the race a “toss up.”

“For Hassan, this will be the most difficult race she has ever had to run,” Duffy wrote.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which raises funds for Senate Republicans, called Hassan a “do-nothing governor” with an “open hostility to pro-growth policies.”

“Governor Gridlock Maggie Hassan has failed to move New Hampshire forward – and now she wants to take her resume of partisan gridlock to Washington as Harry Reid’s hand-picked Senate candidate,” NRSC Communications Director Andrea Bozek said in a statement.