Republican former US Sen. Kelly Ayotte sworn in as 83rd governor of New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. — Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte was sworn as the 83rd governor of New Hampshire on Thursday, promising to bring people together and build on the state's successes while also warning that budget cuts are coming.

''I am going to be a governor for you, whether you're a Republican, Democrat, independent, you name it, because our state is so much bigger than a party or an ideology,'' she said. ''Good government knows no party, so let's show the folks that when partisanship is at a fever pitch, we can set a different example.''

Ayotte succeeds fellow Republican Chris Sununu, whose decision against seeking a fifth two-year term set up on one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country. Promising to continue Sununu's anti-tax, pro-business economic policies, Ayotte defeated five opponents in September's GOP primary and Democratic former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in the November election.

In her inaugural speech, Ayotte said she would keep the state on a prosperous path but warned that belt-tightening would be necessary as lawmakers write the next two-year budget.

''We are going to have to look for better ways to do things with less money,'' she said. ''Just like a family making hard decisions, there's things we can not skimp on — protecting our most vulnerable and those in our state most in need ... but we do have to carefully look across our budgets of every agency and find the savings to deal with the financial realities we face."

Ayotte is the third woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire, following Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both of whom are now U.S. senators. They were the first and second women in the nation to serve in the Senate after being governor. Ayotte is the first woman to do so in reverse, according to Eric Ostermeier, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota and author of the Smart Politics news site.

While more than 150 sitting or former governors have become senators, Ayotte is among just 23 sitting or former senators elected governor since 1900, Ostermeier said. In an interview in October, Ayotte said that experience will serve her well.

A narrow loss to Hassan in 2016 ended Ayotte's tenure in Washington after one term. Before that, Ayotte spent five years as the state's attorney general, and she often highlighted her past as a prosecutor during her campaign.

She repeated that Thursday, saying her top priority remains keeping the state safe. She also cited the state's housing crisis as a top issue she plans to tackle, and she praised Republicans for expanding the state's school voucher program. Without offering details, she also announced plans to ban cellphones in schools, and taking a page from President-elect Donald Trump, said she is creating a Commission on Government Efficiency. Ayotte's agency will be led by Republican former Gov. Craig Benson and businessman Andy Crews.

''We need to make sure that government is operating more like the lean process of manufacturing where waste is eliminated at each step in the process,'' she said.

Ayotte has had a rocky history with Trump, rescinding her support for him in 2016 over his lewd comments about women before backing him again last year. Despite the 2016 snub, she shepherded Justice Neil Gorsuch through his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he joined in overturning Roe v. Wade.

On Thursday, she reiterated that will veto any bill further restricting abortion in New Hampshire, where the procedure is illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy. And though the state's Democratic Party chairman was quick to accuse her of following in Trump's footsteps and putting the state on a ''dangerous'' path, she tried to strike a bipartisan tone.