Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte fired off an ad criticizing Gov. Maggie Hassan for her frequent absences from New Hampshire during the campaign season.
The Ayotte campaign issued a web ad with the hashtag #DoYourJob, calling attention to recent media reports that Hassan travelled out of state for campaign events for 12 days in the month of April.
"Maggie Hassan has failed to live up to her promise to 'focus each and every day' on her job as governor, and we hope that viewers who see this ad will tell the governor to focus on her work in New Hampshire, instead of spending so much time fundraising out of state," Ayotte spokeswoman Liz Johnson said in a release.
The ad opens with a November interview in which the governor pledges to keep her focus on New Hampshire’s interests over her political prospects. "My focus each and every day will be on my job as governor of the state of New Hampshire," she told WMUR political reporter Josh McElveen. It then cuts to a May report from NH1 News in which Hassan defended her absences by saying, "I was out of state."
The Ayotte campaign has made Hassan’s actions on the campaign trail a centerpiece of its attacks against the two-term Democratic governor. When the New Hampshire Union Leader broke the story that Hassan travelled out of state to fundraise for nearly half of April, Ayotte branded her a "no-show" governor.
The Ayotte campaign appropriated the #DoYourJob hashtag popular among Democrats in 2016. The hashtag was first deployed by the Obama administration to convince Republicans to confirm Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. The White House has brought local reporters from swing states, including New Hampshire, to advance the narrative of Republican obstruction.
Hassan did not return a Washington Free Beacon request for comment. A campaign spokesman called the ads hypocritical and called on the Republican Senate to confirm Garland in an interview with WMUR.
"Kelly Ayotte's hypocritical and misleading attacks won't fool Granite Staters," spokesman Aaron Jacobs said. "[She’s] taking on increasing criticism for her support for Donald Trump and her refusal to do her job by obstructing the Supreme Court confirmation process."
The Ayotte ad can be seen here: