CONCORD, N.H. — New Day for America, the super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential bid, has pulled its latest TV ad from the airwaves in New Hampshire after receiving backlash from Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Kasich himself.
The ad, titled “Kelly’s Courage,” was released Monday and calls attention to a vote by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio against the 2013 Violence Against Women Act. Rubio is battling Kasich for second place in Granite State polls.
“This was actually one of the few votes that Sen. Marco Rubio showed up for, but he voted no and is going to have a tough time explaining to New Hampshire voters why he turned his back on women,” the ad stated. It added that “when John Kasich was in Congress, he voted twice to reauthorize” VAWA.
In addition to noting that Ayotte also voted in favor of reauthorizing VAWA, the ad includes old footage of her discussing its “critical need” at a press conference. But Ayotte charged that the ad crossed a line.
“The Violence Against Women Act provides critical resources for domestic violence prevention and support for survivors, and I worked across party lines to help renew this landmark law,” Ayotte, who was not previously made aware of her appearance in the ad, said Monday in a statement. “This is a serious issue, and I’m appalled that an outside group has exploited it in a political attack.”
John Weaver, Kasich’s chief campaign strategist, also appeared to disapprove of the PAC’s ad, tweeting the following message Monday morning:
Sometimes your friends think they’re helping but are not.
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 1, 2016
Hours later, at a town hall in Rochester, Kasich told reporters he disapproved of all negative ads currently airing in the Granite State.
“I hope [Chris] Christie and [Jeb] Bush take all the negative crap off the air and get their Super PACs to talk about what they’re for,” he said. “It’s taking the low road to the highest office in the country and it’s not acceptable.”
Kasich and Rubio are currently polling within two percentage points of each other in the RCP average of state-level surveys of New Hampshire voters.
