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By John DiStaso
May 14, 2021
(WMUR) – BIG SPENDING. The pro-Republican political advocacy group One Nation has been flooding digital platforms in the state with ads targeting Sen. Maggie Hassan for her support of the Democrats’ bill to federalize many election procedures, the For the People Act, also known as S.1.
The 501(c)(4) nonprofit, with ties to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, was active in the 2016 election, spending millions of dollars on behalf of then-Sen. Kelly Ayotte, whom Hassan of course very narrowly defeated.
This week, One Nation has begun a $1.9 million ad program in five states focusing on Hassan’s support for the bill, which was marked up in the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday and was the subject of a 9-9 partisan deadlocked roll call.
Hassan’s only GOP opponent in her reelection bid so far is retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, but that may soon change, as Gov. Chris Sununu considers taking her on in the midterm election.
We’re told that among the five states, New Hampshire will receive the largest One Nation investment. The group did not respond to our inquiries Wednesday.
Politico reported that the ad campaign will include radio and television buys in the Granite State, and it’s clear just by browsing the web that there’s a heavy digital components as well.
There are a variety of digital ads, all relating to Hassan’s support for H.R. 1. One ad, for instance, says, “Keep Our First-in-the-Nation Primary. Tell Senator Hassan to vote NO on S.1.”
But another ad we ran into is a little off the mark identifying Hassan as being from “MT,” or Montana.
That ad was quickly taken down, however, once the miscue was caught, according to a One Nation spokesperson.
On WMUR-TV, by the way, the buy so far totals $98,200 through May 20.
“After dedicating his career to protecting his corporate and special interest donors, Mitch McConnell is doing everything he can to protect the status quo and stop a bill that would end his donors’ ability to hide behind their dark money and that would crack down on political corruption,” the pro-campaign finance reform group End Citizens United/Let America Vote said.
Locally, the progressive youth group 603 Forward, blasted what it called One Nation’s “misinformation campaign.”
Former state Sen. Jon Morgan said, “The days where power in Washington has been for sale to the biggest donor and the wealthiest corporations must come to an end.”
He thanked Hassan and the other members of the congressional delegation for supporting the bill.
Kelsey Douville, described by 603 Forward as a youth health care advocate, said, she has experienced “the skyrocketing cost of insulin medication as wealthy corporations raise the price purely for profit. The only way we can fix this is by getting the corrupting money out of politics.”