Washington, D.C. – Maggie Hassan is deeply entrenched with Washington special interests. That is no secret. However, a recent accounting by OpenSecrets.org shows that she tops the list of lobbyist cash recipients in the U.S. Senate during the 2022 campaign cycle, behind only the soon-to-be Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Actions speak louder than words, and once again, Maggie Hassan’s words could not ring more hollow.
More from the NH Journal:
Sen. Maggie Hassan, an outspoken advocate for “getting big money out of politics,” has taken more campaign cash from lobbyists than any other rank-and-file member of Congress, according to data at OpenSecrets.org.
Hassan has collected more than $436,000 from lobbyists this cycle who represent industries ranging from Big Tech (Google) to Big Pharma (AstraZeneca) to Wall Street (Blackstone Group).
Hassan also took more than $77,000 from corporate lobbyists, among them representatives for a Chinese company the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau formally designated “a national security threat,” according to a 2020 statement from the agency.
And despite her rhetoric targeting “Big Oil,” Hassan has accepted $16,750 from lobbyists for Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell.
As a result, Hassan is number three on OpenSecrets’ “Top Recipients of Contributions from Lobbyists, 2022 Cycle,” trailing only Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, both members of leadership who receive campaign cash thanks in part to their positions in the caucus.
No other rank-and-file member got as much lobbyist money as Hassan, who leads the next name on the list, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.), by about $60,000. Hassan has also taken $2.4 million from Political Action Committees (PACs), many representing Wall Street, Big Tech, and far-left groups like the Progressive Turnout Project.
Statement from NRSC Spokesman T.W. Arrighi: “Over the course of this campaign, Maggie Hassan has proven to Granite Staters that her entire brand is a farce. She’s never around, so obviously she doesn’t campaign, and she – quite literally – is the most flush with lobbyist cash in the U.S. Senate. Maggie Hassan is pure D.C., and left New Hampshire behind long ago. That’s why she will lose next week.”
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