A U.S. Chamber of Commerce ad for Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte touts her as a potential check on the White House, in a sign that the business group already sees an advantage as portraying her as a figure to oppose Hillary Clinton if she is elected president.
“America’s future is far from certain,” a narrator in the new 30-second ad published Friday says. “But no matter who the next president is, New Hampshire needs a strong voice in the U.S. Senate. That senator: Kelly Ayotte.”
Ayotte, a first-term incumbent, is running slightly behind Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan in the latest polling.
The Chamber’s ad notes tax increases that Hassan has backed and asks viewers to “imagine what she’d do unchecked in Washington with a new president.”
Clinton is not mentioned by name in the ad. The Democratic candidate for president, however, has campaigned on a tax plan that would raise about $1.4 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, to raise revenue for new spending programs.
