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NRSC to launch ad slamming Hassan for backing public financing provision of For the People Act
Six-figure buy includes television, digital components targeting Democratic senator viewed as vulnerable in 2022 reelection bid
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Updated: 6:25 PM EDT Jun 22, 2021
NRSC to launch ad slamming Hassan for backing public financing provision of For the People Act
Six-figure buy includes television, digital components targeting Democratic senator viewed as vulnerable in 2022 reelection bid
Share
Updated: 6:25 PM EDT Jun 22, 2021
The National Republican Senatorial Committee plans to waste no time attacking New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan after she joined her Democratic colleagues Tuesday in voting to advance the sweeping federal campaign finance and elections reform bill known as the For the People Act.A new ad – which the NRSC says is the subject of a six-figure television and digital buy to begin later this week -- focuses on the public financing provision of the bill, which Hassan supports.With the Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, Hassan is among a handful of Democratic incumbent senators viewed by Republicans and Democrats as vulnerable in next year’s election as she seeks a second term. Even Hassan's own campaign described her as "the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent" in fundraising email Tuesday. Hassan joined Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and the entire Senate Democratic caucus Tuesday in voting to allow debate on the For the People Act to proceed. But as expected, the vote fell 10 votes short of the necessary filibuster-proof 60-vote threshold. The bill passed the House in early March.Hassan earlier in the day reiterated her support for the bill, also known as S.1, writing in a tweet: “I’m voting to advance the For The People Act today because it will stop billionaires from buying our elections and puts the power back where it belongs: in the hands of the American people.”Shaheen separately wrote: “I’m voting for the For The People Act because expanding voting rights is fundamental to our democracy. We can stop billionaires and special interests from buying our elections through essential campaign finance reform. Let’s get it done.”In addition to placing some state-managed procedures for federal elections under federal law, the For the People contains numerous campaign finance reforms that supporters say increases transparency and reduces the influence of large “dark money” donors that are not currently required to disclose their contributors.Among other reforms is a public financing piece. Under the bill, the federal government would use funds from corporate penalty assessments, deposited in a "Freedom From Influence" account managed by the Federal Election Commission, for a six-to-one match for each contribution to a candidate of up to $200.A $200 contribution would receive a $1,200 match, for a total of $1,400. The program would be voluntary; candidates would opt in by adhering to contribution limits. And the available funding would be capped on a state-by-state bases under a formula in the bill.Opponents say that under the provision, the government would be forced to fund partisan messages they disagree with. “The Washington politicians want to use government money to pay for their campaigns,” a narrator in the NRSC ad says as photographs of Democratic congressional leaders Sen. Charles Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appear.“That would never fly in New Hampshire,” the ad continues. “But Sen. Maggie Hassan supports this Washington waste plan.”The ad says the public financing provision “would give her campaign up to $9 million in government money.”View the ad here and at the end of this report.The NRSC said the $9 million figure is the maximum amount Hassan could receive under the cap on matching funds for New Hampshire candidates for the Senate under the formula in the bill.Based on her small dollar contributions in her 2016 campaign, if there were no cap, she would likely be able to receive more, the NRSC said.U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, chair of the NRSC said that by voting in favor of allowing debate on S. 1, “Maggie Hassan not only put Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Washington bureaucrats in charge of New Hampshire’s elections, she also voted to give her own campaign access to millions of dollars in taxpayer money.“New Hampshire’s senator isn’t looking out for her constituents’ interests but rather looking to help her own re-election chances. Ironically, it will be tonight’s vote that Granite Staters will remember when they vote Senator Hassan out of office.” Responding to the ad, New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesperson Gates MacPherson said: "The For The People Act will finally end Mitch McConnell and his billionaire backers’ control over our politics, and that’s why they’re spreading outright falsehoods to defeat it. "It’s no surprise McConnell is spending money on false ads about this landmark anti-corruption law -- because billionaires buying elections is the only way McConnell knows how to win.”The NHDP said the bill does not use taxpayer dollars for the match arrangement. Lucas Meyer, chair of the pro-Democratic group 603 Forward, accused the “corrupt politicians” in the GOP of lying “to protect the corrupt status quo where billionaires and corporate special interests can buy elections and lobbyists run the show.Praising Hassan, Meyer said: “It’s clear that Washington, D.C. Republicans are afraid of what will happen when the people have a real voice in our democracy.”The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, while not responding directly to the NRSC ad, issued a statement attacking Republicans for blocking the bill.Sen. Gary Peters, DSCC chair, said: "Today, Senate Republicans sent a clear message to voters: they’re more interested in protecting their own self-serving political interests than cracking down on corruption and protecting Americans' right to vote and participate in our democracy. "The stakes of the 2022 election have never been clearer -- to defend Americans’ fundamental democratic rights, we must protect and expand Democrats’ Senate majority.”