Sen. Kelly Ayotte said Sunday that she abandoned her support for Donald Trump because she wanted her 12-year-old daughter to someday know that rejecting him for his lewd comments “is more important to me than winning any election.”

“I call things like I see them,” Ayotte told reporters at the Manchester Fire Department. She then attacked her Democratic rival, Gov. Maggie Hassan, for not questioning Hillary Clinton’s improprieties regarding her email server and deleted emails, and for Hassan's support for the Iran nuclear deal.

Ayotte also said that as a former prosecutor who has been an advocate for victims of domestic violence, she believes that the sexually-charged comments Trump made in a 2005 video released on Friday were “talking about assault” and were “fundamentally different” than controversial comments about women Trump has made in the past.

View Ayotte’s press conference on WMUR’s Facebook page,

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Hassan's campaign called Ayotte's press conference, which lasted four minutes, evidence that Ayotte's campaign is "panicked" and said that in the past year, Ayotte has stated her support for Trump about 35 times.

Ayotte, who is in a tight, bitter race against Hassan, made the stunning announcement that she is cutting Trump loose on Saturday following the publication of his lewd 2005 comments about women.

Ayotte first said she found the comments “totally inappropriate and offensive,” but then went a step further, saying on Saturday that she has decided she will no longer vote for Trump and will instead write in the name of GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence on Election Day.

Ayotte said Sunday she thought about it overnight on Friday-Saturday before coming to the conclusion that she would no longer endorse Trump. She reiterated that she intends to write in Pence.

A spokeswoman for Ayotte told WMUR.com late Saturday that Ayotte also believes  Trump should voluntarily end his candidacy. Trump, while apologizing for his comments on the 2005 video released by the Washington Post on Friday, has steadfastly refused to quit the race.

Ayotte joined many other key Republicans in abandoning Trump, including her Senate mentor, Sen. John McCain, as well as U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Sen. Mike Lee, also of Utah, Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, and more.

Locally, New Hampshire House Speaker Shawn Jasper also withdrew his support for Trump, writing on Facebook that “there is a point at which if we support a person who is so vile because the other option is worse, we have to ask ourselves what we have become.” He wrote that he is considering voting for a third party candidate.

Ayotte’s press conference was brief, and she took only three questions before her staff escorted her out.

“As many people know, I’ve disagreed and denounced Donald Trump on many issues and called him out,” Ayotte said. “But the tapes that were released on Friday, the statements talked about in those tapes, and the actions talked about in those tapes, are fundamentally different.”

“He’s talking about assault of women, and I thought about years from now when my daughter, Kate, is old enough to know what is in those tapes and understand what he is talking about, I want her to know where I stood.”

“I want my daughter to know that that is more important to me than winning any election,” she said.

“And that’s a big difference between Gov. Hassan and I,” Ayotte said. “She has never called out Hillary Clinton about her setting up a private server and mishandling classified information and emails, jeopardizing our national security. Or when she’s lied about it.”

“Or on the fundamental issues where she’s lockstep with Secretary Clinton on issues like the Iran agreement that make our country less safe,” Ayotte said.

“I will call it like I see it no matter who is in that Oval Office and disagree with them when I think they are going in the wrong direction on behalf of the people of New Hampshire,” Ayotte said.

A former state attorney general, Ayotte said about the Trump video, “I think those statements are fundamentally, unfortunately, talking about assault.”

Ayotte had previously said she supported Trump but would not endorse him. Earlier last week, Ayotte said during a debate at New England College that she “absolutely” considered Trump a role model for children.

After the debate, amid an avalanche of criticism, she walked back the comment, saying that she “misspoke” and that neither Trump nor Clinton “have set a good example, and I wouldn’t hold either of them out as role models for my kids.”

Hassan on Saturday blasted Ayotte’s decision to abandoned Trump as “political calculation” and “too little and far too late.”

On Sunday, Hassan campaign spokeswoman Meira Bernstein said, “We have known for years the type of man Donald Trump is -- a disgusting sexist who degrades women and openly admits that he does not treat them with respect. Yet, Kelly Ayotte cravenly continued to stand by him to try to save her political career.”

Following the Ayotte press conference, Bernstein said that Ayotte "managed to recite her talking point that 'I call it like I see it' four times in just over four minutes before her staff cut off the questioning."

“It’s telling that Kelly Ayotte refused to really answer tough questions on her craven political calculation to stand by Trump for months as his anti-woman comments and behavior was laid bare for the world to see,” Bernstein said.

“Because there is no answer for what has changed now for Ayotte besides the political winds. Ayotte knew what kind of man Trump was all along and supported him anyway. Voters will see Ayotte’s craven political calculations for exactly what they are: a desperate attempt to save her political career.”