Newly elected Republican Senate Leader, state Sen. Peter Bragdon (R-Milford) said that he will attempt to work with Gov. John Lynch (D-Hopkinton) on the budget and will also build a consensus within the senate Republican caucus on policy issues and issues surrounding the senate Republican PAC.

Bragdon was elected in a surprise vote to become Senate Republican Leader. Bragdon's election ousted state Sen. Ted Gatsas (R-Manchester) who was the Republican leader in the last legislative session and was expected to continue serving as the Republican leader.

"Clearly there's a lot of things that needs to be done within the Republican Party nationally as well as statewide and as well as in the Senate, so we've got our work cut out for us," Bragdon said in an interview with PolitickerNH.com. "I think the folks that have worked with me realize that I can help bring some people together and build a consensus."

Bragdon said that the Republicans, who now hold 10 of the 24 state Senate seats, should reach across the aisle to work with their Democratic colleagues.

"We've got to realize we're in the minority, and are the opposition, but that doesn't mean we have to be obstructionists and find some way to work together and solve problems even though we don't have the votes we used to have," he said.

Bragdon also said that he thinks Republican state senators wanted a change in the way the Republican senate PAC makes decisions on where to spend its resources.

"My particular race didn't require any assistance from the PAC. But I do think that there was a feeling that we need to all sit around and figure something out rather than having one guy, i.e. me, say ok we're going to do this," Bragdon said. "I prefer to get people around a table and say ok how are we going to do this and try and build a consensus around that."

Bragdon added that he has a "good relationship" with Lynch and would be willing to work with the governor on various issues.

"The governor and I certainly have a good relationship, and there are issues we've worked on," Bragdon said.

He later added, "The governor knows that I'm willing to sit down and work on things, but still bring to the table Republican principles and I'm not going to give them up."