New Hampshire is better off than it was two years ago. Some may even say the Granite State is the strongest it has ever been in its 230-year history.

New Hampshire consistently has had the lowest unemployment rate this year compared to other New England states as well as being significantly less than the national average.

Earlier this year, the state was $99 million ahead and counting compared to revenue projections with a surplus of funds. This windfall then was used to provide property tax relief, with $65 million going to cities and towns for roads, bridges and safer schools. The targeted, well-planned investment of these funds maximized the positive impact for the good of all residents – not just select or partisan groups.

Gov. Chris Sununu in his State of the State address earlier this year reported, “Today in New Hampshire, businesses have lower taxes, fewer regulations, and a stronger workforce, allowing them to reinvest in their communities.”

He is correct, and the proof of the strength of his leadership is found in the numbers. That is why The Telegraph endorses Sununu in his re-election bid against Democratic Challenger Molly Kelly, a former state senator with numbers of her own.

Bill O’Brien, speaker of the House after the Republicans took control of the Legislature in 2010, wrote, “Molly Kelly and her Democrat colleagues in just four years spent the state that had always balanced budgets into almost a billion-dollar structural deficit.”

Why would anyone want to repeat that history. It’s a question our editorial board had planned to ask Kelly. However, despite three invitations, she never made herself available for such a meeting. Her silence speaks volumes, and we hope voters are listening on Election Day.

Granite Staters are politically savvy. They are engaged voters who expect answers and results. Kelly has failed with the former and has a poor track record with the latter.

Sununu, conversely, worked to strengthen the state’s economy by eliminating more than 1,600 antiquated and unnecessarily restrictive, harmful government regulations. He also lowered the state’s business profits and enterprise taxes and created the Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

Further, he seeks to keep control of key business decisions between employers and their employees, rather than mandating compensation options such as paid family medical leave. Kelly has accused Sununu of referring to such paid time off as “a vacation,” though that is not how he explained his position during The Telegraph’s editorial board meeting with him or when the two squared off at the newspaper’s recent Gateway to the Election Series, which was hosted in conjunction with the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce and Rivier University.

Truthfulness, accessibility, accuracy and a proven track record for improving quality of life for the state’s residents all are hallmarks of Sununu’s first two-year term at New Hampshire’s helm. There is much more to accomplish, and returning Sununu to office will keep the state on its successful course.

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