The incumbent governor is Republican Kelly Ayotte, who took office on January 9, 2025.
New Hampshire was one of the original Thirteen Colonies and was admitted as a state on June 21, 1788.
[1] Before it declared its independence, New Hampshire was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
The original 1776 Constitution of New Hampshire did not provide for a chief executive.
[2] Governors served one-year terms until an 1877 amendment increased this to two years.