New Hampshire is set to turn into a key senatorial battleground next November as incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte will be challenged by Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who kicked off her campaign on Monday.

The 57-year-old governor announced her run in an online video, in which she chided Washington for having given in to powerful special interests and lobbyists who rig the system against the middle class, the Associated Press reported. Hassan claimed that GOP efforts to stop President Barack Obama's healthcare reform are an example of such dysfunction.

"The people of New Hampshire deserve better, and in order for us to make progress, we need to have the kind of bipartisan, problem-solving, results-driven approach that I've led here," she told the newswire.

But New Hampshire Republican Chairwoman Jennifer Horn told Boston Herald Radio's "Herald Drive" show that Hassan's challenge may not turn out to be as formidable as widely expected, the Boston Herald noted.

"I am not too concerned, honestly," Horn insisted. "The governor has been a disappointment in the corner office, she is fiscally irresponsible ... and held up funds to play games in the budget crisis over the summer."

Ayotte, for her part, said she expects a spirited campaign and hopes to continue to represent New Hampshire in the Senate in order to create "better opportunities and a brighter future for our kids and our state," the AP noted.

The 47-year-old Republican, who formerly served as the Granite State's attorney general, defeated Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes with 60 percent of the vote in 2010, after she had garnered endorsements from Republicans of all stripes, including Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Hassan, for her part, had been a member of the New Hampshire State Senate for five years when she was voted out as Republicans took control of both chambers of the Legislature in 2010. She moved into the Governor's Mansion in 2011 and cites a tuition freeze at state universities and the doubling of a research and development tax credit as some of her key accomplishments.