The Democrat Senate Majority PAC on Wednesday rushed $1.2 million in emergency aid to Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) after polling revealed Republican Gen. Don Bolduc leading New Hampshire’s Senate race by a slim margin.
The New Hampshire Senate contest is one of seven fiercely contested battleground states that will determine which party controls the Senate. To retake the chamber, 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.
The emergency aid was sent to Hassan’s campaign amid a frantic dash to retain the Senate seat against Gen. Bolduc, who has surged 13 points in the last six weeks in polling to take a slim, two point lead, Politico reported.
Gen. Bolduc has credited the momentum to his more than 75 town halls and over 1 million voter contacts. His campaign has also been boosted by $2 million in super PAC ads in the closing weeks of the campaign. On Wednesday, Citizens for Sanity, a Republican super PAC, scheduled a $3.2 million TV ad buy in the closing days of the campaign, a huge infusion of cash just days before the November 8 election.
Dave Carney, a New Hampshire GOP strategist, told Politico that Hassan’s struggles single a red ripple ahead of Tuesday. Carney believes Democrats have not spoken to the voters’ concerns about soaring inflation, high crime, and illegal immigration.
“People my age and younger — we have never had the president of the United States, the leader of the free world, tell us to buy fucking generic raisin bran. That’s his solution,” Carney stated, referring to President Joe Biden’s statement last week that Americans are having a difficult time affording brand name serials, such as “Kellogg’s Raisin Bran.”
Gen. Bolduc has gained momentum despite the Mitch McConnell-backed defunding the New Hampshire race $5.6 million from in mid-October, effectively sabotaging the race.
He believes McConnell’s decision to defund his campaign has increased donations from Granite Staters.
“We are getting a lot of response from that,” Gen. Bolduc told WMUR ABC. “People are donating online. They are sending us checks. They are doing things to help us. You go to DonBolduc.com, you can do that.
On Tuesday, RealClearPolitics flipped its forecast and predicted the New Hampshire Senate seat was a GOP pickup. Politico also changed its forecast on Friday from a “lean” Democrat win to a “tossup.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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