New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte turned up the heat on Democratic challenger Maggie Hassan on Monday while the Granite State governor was off fundraising with Vice President Joe Biden in New York City.
Ayotte’s communications director Liz Johnson ripped Hassan in a new campaign memo about the current “state of the race” for the New Hampshire’s Senate seat. The race has quickly become one of the most closely-watched contests in the country now that the Hassan campaign has begun linking Ayotte to her party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
“Hassan’s focus on lobbing misleading attacks rather than articulating a positive vision for her candidacy is likely due to her reluctance to run on an unimpressive, partisan record as Governor,” Johnson wrote Monday. “Her time in office has been characterized by her failure to make life more affordable for New Hampshire families and businesses and failing to lead and effectively manage state government.”
According to Hassan’s opponent, the two-term New Hampshire governor has failed to articulate coherent foreign policy positions, dodged questions about pressing issues and has demonstrated through her governorship that she’s unfit to serve Granite Staters in the Senate.
“[Hassan’s] rank partisanship and obstructionism is reminiscent of the gridlock Sen. Harry Reid has helped created in Washington, which is likely part of the reason he recruited Hassan to run and his Super PAC is spending millions propping up her campaign,” Johnson wrote.
The Ayotte campaign also took aim at Hassan’s recent hiatus from New Hampshire, claiming “her absence raises important questions about her day-to-day engagement” on issues important to Americans and Granite State voters.
Johnson’s lengthy memo comes just days after the Hassan campaign announced its first six-figure ad buy in New Hampshire and repeatedly linked Ayotte to Trump in a handful of press releases and interviews.
“Ayotte’s support of Trump is sadly not surprising given that the two agree on many of the most important issues facing Granite Staters,” Hassan campaign spokesman Aaron Jacobs wrote in a press release last week that highlighted “10 policy positions” that he claimed Trump and Ayotte agree on.
While declaring her support for “the nominee,” Ayotte has consistently attempted to distance herself from Trump. The Republican senator has previously blasted Trump’s proposal to bar non-American Muslims from entering the U.S., calling it “inconsistent with the first Amendment.”
In her memo Monday, Johnson continued to place distance between Ayotte and the de facto GOP nominee. “Kelly has never hesitated to speak out against an issue or policy — even when proposed by Republicans — that doesn’t serve New Hampshire’s best interest, and she’ll continue to call it like she sees it, regardless of party affiliation.”
According to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average of New Hampshire voters, Ayotte continues to carry a small but steady lead over Hassan in the Granite State. A WMUR poll released late last month showed the incumbent Republican leading Hassan 57 to 21 percent among independents in the state.
