President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the agency charged with the regulation of firearms, who has worked with gun control groups, has picked up support from one of the most politically imperiled senators up for reelection in 2022.
Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said on Tuesday she plans to support David Chipman for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
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Chipman’s nomination, which was deadlocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee along party lines, has not been scheduled for a floor vote. With the Senate divided 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris casting tiebreaking votes, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is looking toward a handful of Democrats, who are still making up their minds about Chipman, ultimately to side with the president’s nominee.
Hassan had been among that group of undecided lawmakers from states with favorable gun laws.
“Sen. Hassan met with him and supports his nomination,” a Hassan spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Chipman is a 20-year ATF employee who went on to become a prominent gun control activist with the gun control organization founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords, an Arizona Democrat wounded in a shooting a decade ago.
Hassan’s decision to support Chipman could be a key issue in the midterm elections for the New Hampshire Democrat.
Hassan could face her state’s popular Republican governor, Chris Sununu, who vetoed three gun control measures in the state Legislature two years ago. Sununu is considered a possible top recruit for Republicans in an effort to take back the upper chamber.
The New Hampshire senator is a first-term lawmaker and former governor who won her previous election against Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte by just over 1,000 ballots.
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Democrats who have yet to reveal whether they will support Chipman’s nomination are Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the party.
