A left-wing environmental group backed by green energy billionaire Tom Steyer is seeking to damage Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s re-election chances by linking her to Donald Trump in a new parody campaign throughout New Hampshire.
In a mock press release on Thursday, NextGen Climate Action suggested Ayotte, who is running in a tight race against Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, has shown “steadfast support for Trump’s candidacy and their shared policy priorities.”
Ayotte has stood with Trump in supporting “Big Oil tax breaks” and allowing “corporations to pump unlimited amounts of pollution in our air,” the group claimed.
In addition to creating a website and Twitter handle where Granite State voters can “monitor Senator Ayotte’s loyalty to her party’s nominee,” NextGen announced its plans to have someone dressed as Trump follow the GOP senator around New Hampshire as she continues to campaign for re-election.
“NextGen Climate NH is not letting Senator Ayotte dodge her support (and shared policy priorities) to Donald Trump,” Kate Corriveau, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire NextGen chapter, wrote in an email. “It’s no wonder her loyalty to him has never wavered.”
Ayotte has said she intends to support the GOP presidential nominee, but that hasn’t prevented her from speaking out against Trump on numerous occasions this election cycle.
Just last week, the New Hampshire Republican told the Union Leader that she was “glad to get [Trump’s] endorsement,” but continues to “disagree with him on a number of fronts.” And in late July, after Trump’s controversial confrontation with the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier, Ayotte said she was “appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family.”
“Kelly has never hesitated to speak out against ideas and policies — including those proposed by Republicans — that aren’t in New Hampshire’s best interest, and she’ll continue to work across the aisle to solve problems and deliver results,” Ayotte spokeswoman Liz Johnson told the Washington Examiner at the time.
Steyer’s group spent more than $70 million on congressional races in the 2014 midterm election, and has previously said he intends to “spend what it takes” this cycle to prevent Republicans in key battleground states from winning re-election.
