The National Republican Senatorial Committee released two new ads on Friday that hit Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan for mishandling New Hampshire’s heroin crisis and awarding a multi-million dollar contract to a local medical center two days before it layed of 460 workers.
The first 30-second spot, called “Inept,” questions Hassan’s involvement in awarding a $36 million contract to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center after the company’s executives contributed thousands of dollars to her Senate campaign.
“Maggie Hassan’s priority is not the safety and welfare of the patients at New Hampshire hospital,” a nurse practitioner named Victoria says in the ad. “As to the layoffs of up to 460 people, if Maggie Hassan knew about it, she’s corrupt. If she didn’t know about it, she’s inept.”
The ad comes just days after the Republican Party of New Hampshire sent right-to-know requests to Hassan and other state agency officials with the goal of obtaining additional information related to the recently approved contract with Dartmouth-Hitchcock. State GOP officials have also questioned whether Hassan was aware of the impending layoffs at the time the contract was awarded.
A second ad questions Hassan’s handling of the opioid epidemic that has rocked her state and much of New England. In the 30-second spot, a mother who lost her 25-year-old son to a heroin overdose, asks Hassan why families in the Granite State are being forced to send “their loved ones out of [New Hampshire] to get the help they need.”
“She didn’t see the full force of this — the people that we were losing,” the woman says. “In my whole heart, she hasn’t done her job. And that’s how I feel about it.”
The newest ads, which will run in New Hampshire and Boston markets, are part of the NRSC’s $5.9 million investment in the contested Senate race between Hassan and incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Recent state-level polls show Ayotte carrying an average lead of 2.5 percentage points over her Democratic challenger.
