Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has reportedly accepted $436,000 from lobbyists in the 2022 campaign cycle from industries such as big tech, fossil fuel, and Wall Street, according to Open Secrets.
Hassan has raised so much money from lobbyists that she ranks second in the Senate behind Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and third overall in Congress behind Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Schumer, who both hold leadership positions and whose job it is to raise money for their respective parties.
Though the Democrat incumbent has been adamant about “getting big money out of politics,” she has raised over $38 million during this election cycle and spent over $38 million defending herself against surging Republican challenger Gen. Don Bolduc, who is leading in the polls with just days until election day.
Hassan has also condemned the fossil fuel industry for high gas prices. Yet Hassan has accepted $16,750 in campaign contributions from Shell, Exxon and Mobil, BP.
Gen. Bolduc has stated he will not accept campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, though he opposes the Democrats’ war on American energy.
Hassan also reportedly holds investments within the fossil fuel industry despite her anti-American energy rhetoric. “Granite Staters are feeling the impact of high energy costs in their daily lives,” she wrote on Facebook in April. “That’s why I am working to hold Big Oil accountable and support critical investments in clean energy, so we can lower prices for Americans.”
Gen. Bolduc’s spokeswoman Kate Constantini ripped Hassan for being a “hypocrite” and senator who is paid for by lobbyists.
“Career politician Maggie Hassan is nothing more than a hypocrite, taking money from the very corporations she claims to be fighting against while on the campaign trail,” Constantini said.
“It seems as long as her campaign coffers stay full, she’ll do and say whatever it takes to get reelected. New Hampshire needs someone representing them in Washington who isn’t bought and paid for by special interests,” she added. “In the Senate, Gen. Bolduc will always put the needs of Granite Staters first.”
The New Hampshire Senate race is one of seven battleground states that will determine which party controls the Senate.
To retake the Senate, the GOP needs to hold Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and retake either Arizona, Nevada, Washington State, New Hampshire, or Georgia to have a one-seat majority in the Senate.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.