KEY TAKEAWAY: With one hundred days left until Election Day, Senator Maggie Hassan’s record of delivering for New Hampshire is breaking through with New Hampshire voters, despite a challenging national environment for Democrats and millions of dollars in outside spending. While the Senator continues to lead on the issues that matter most to Granite Staters — from lowering gas prices to bringing down prescription drug costs to protecting abortion rights — her opponents are struggling to fundraise, failing to break through with voters, and enmeshed in a divisive Republican primary.
As “The Most Bipartisan Senator,” Senator Hassan’s Record of Delivering Results for Granite Staters Is Resonating with New Hampshire Voters
Senator Hassan – recently recognized as the most bipartisan Senator by the nonpartisan Lugar Center – is one of the few lawmakers in Washington who excels at finding common ground with the other side. That matters in New Hampshire, where independent voters are the largest voting bloc and Granite Staters have long expected their leaders to work across the aisle. Whether it’s partnering with a Republican to ban surprise medical billing, negotiating the bipartisan infrastructure law, or working across the aisle to expand access to generic drugs – Senator Hassan has worked to make a meaningful difference for Granite Staters. Her record of breaking through partisan divisions to actually get things done for New Hampshire is ultimately our campaign’s greatest asset as we head into November.
Senator Hassan Will Do Whatever It Takes to Lower Costs for Granite Staters
Our campaign is making a powerful contrast between Senator Hassan’s record of standing up to Big Pharma and Big Oil in order to lower costs – and her opponents’ fealty to corporate special interests.
Senator Hassan has been aggressive in fighting inflation and working to lower costs. In February, when Senator Hassan introduced legislation proposing a gas tax holiday, her opponents all came out against it. Since then, our campaign has aggressively held the Republican candidates accountable for not supporting a suspension of the gas tax. And the Republicans have lost even more ground on this issue by parroting Big Oil’s talking points – with one of our opponents, Kevin Smith, even using the same consulting firm as some of the biggest oil and gas companies.
And it’s not just on the issue of lowering gas prices that Republicans are coming out against common sense, popular cost-cutting policies championed by Senator Hassan. Two of the leading candidates in the race — Don Bolduc and Kevin Smith— have attacked Senator Hassan for helping develop and pass the bipartisan competition and innovation bill that will take on the Chinese government, lower costs, and make sure we make more things in America. And another, Chuck Morse, hasn’t weighed in on this critical bill, which passed with the support of 17 Senate Republicans. Whether it’s opposing the bipartisan infrastructure law, the competition bill, or a gas tax holiday — the Republican field keeps siding against the interests of Granite Staters on popular solutions to lower costs.
The Republican Field is Trapped in a Messy and Chaotic Primary
While Senator Hassan continues to lead on the priorities that matter to New Hampshire, the Republicans are engaged in an increasingly toxic and divisive primary. The first primary debate of this cycle was a fiasco, with the candidates repeatedly attacking each other. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Kevin Smith has repeatedly and dramatically attacked Senate President Chuck Morse — damaging both of the Republican insiders’ credibility. With more debates in the coming weeks, the primary is set to only get more chaotic.
In other words, the Republican contest remains muddled and has no clear frontrunner. The candidates who have been in the race longest — Don Bolduc, Kevin Smith, and Chuck Morse — raised less in Q2 than they did in Q1. Without the cash on hand to compete, these three (who have received the most attention from national Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott) will struggle to communicate with New Hampshire voters. Their lackluster campaigns have also created a vacuum that two new candidates — Bruce Fenton and Vikram Mansharamani — are desperately trying to fill. The bottom line is this primary will remain messy and chaotic until the end.
Senator Hassan is Fighting to Protect a Woman’s Fundamental Freedom
No matter who gets through the Republican primary, his anti-choice record will be a major liability in the general election. All of the candidates have become even more opposed to abortion rights since the Dobbs decision – and are trying to compete with one another to see who can be the most anti-choice. This summer, Kevin Smith has repeatedly said he would support any anti-choice legislation in the US Senate – and made defunding Planned Parenthood a central message of his campaign. Both Bruce Fenton and Vikram Mansharamani have expressed support for new abortion restrictions. And candidates like Chuck Morse are bragging on the campaign trail about passing the first abortion ban in modern NH history, while Don Bolduc has said New Hampshire’s abortion ban doesn’t go far enough.
That anti-choice record makes clear that these candidates would be a yes vote for a nationwide abortion ban — a toxic position in the most pro-choice swing state. Indeed, Republicans with much less extreme records — like Scott Brown in 2014 — have seen their campaigns brought down in part by their positions on reproductive rights.
CONCLUSION: Senator Hassan is working to keep America safe, lower costs, support New Hampshire small businesses, strengthen care for veterans, and make sure our economy works for every New Hampshire family, not just corporate special interests. And she has the results to back it up. Meanwhile, her opponents are taking more extreme positions with every passing day, are stuck in a divisive Republican primary, and are running poorly funded campaigns. Over the next one hundred days, Senator Hassan will continue to contrast her record of delivering for New Hampshire with the fact that the Republican field would just be a yes vote for a nationwide abortion ban — and side with corporate special interests at the expense of Granite Staters.