WASHINGTON — Today the Human Rights Campaign PAC (HRC PAC) announced its endorsement of Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) for reelection to the U.S. Senate in the 2022 election. HRC PAC is committed to engaging its volunteers, members and supporters to mobilize the 400,000 Equality Voters in New Hampshire in support of Hassan and other pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.

Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison released the following statement:

“Senator Hassan has been a passionate and reliable ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and we’re excited to endorse her for reelection. New Hampshire and the nation as a whole will continue to benefit from her leadership, thoughtfulness and diligence in working to advance key legislation during these difficult times. As a co-sponsor of the Equality Act, Senator Hassan has made clear that she sees the widespread discrimination that LGBTQ+ people still face and is standing with the LGBTQ+ community to work to pass this desperately needed bill. We will be putting forth significant resources to help ensure that Senator Hassan is elected to another term representing New Hampshire in the Senate.”

Senator Maggie Hassan released the following statement:

“During my time in public service, I am proud to have fought to pass marriage equality into law and ensure that LGBTQ+ Americans are fully included in our country’s shared success. I am grateful for the Human Rights Campaign’s endorsement and I look forward to working together to stand up to those who would take away the rights of LGBTQ+ Granite Staters.”

Throughout her career, Maggie Hassan has fought for the rights of all citizens to participate fully in the civic and economic life of their communities. As a State Senator, she worked tirelessly to achieve marriage equality, helping make New Hampshire one of the first states to pass legislation ensuring access to legal marriage for all. As Governor, she took a bold and historic step by issuing an executive order extending vitally important non-discrimination protections to transgender people in New Hampshire with respect to government employment, contracts and programs. In the United States Senate, she has cosponsored the Equality Act, is helping lead the fight in the Senate to ban conversion therapy, and is working to pass legislation to protect LGBTQ+ students on college campuses from bullying.

Sen. Hassan’s potential opponents have a track record of opposing LGBTQ+ rights and backing discriminatory policies:

• Kevin Smith is an anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion rights activist with an extensive history of advocating against pro-equality policies. As an executive at Cornerstone Policy Research - Action, he called marriage equality “radical social engineering” and said that being gay is “a lifestyle choice.” He has supported license-to-discriminate laws and led a campaign to strip sexual orientation and gender identity from an anti-bullying bill. He has also been a registered lobbyist for The National Organization For Marriage, an organization opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage.

• Chuck Morse is the president of the New Hampshire Senate and leads the current Republican majority in that chamber. In his many years as a lawmaker, he has voted against recognizing marriage equality in other states, against a ban on conversion therapy, and against adding gender identity as a protected class in state employment, housing and public accommodations non-discrimination laws. He also voted against allowing LGBTQ+ people to adopt or become foster parents.

• Don Bolduc ran a failed campaign for US Senate last cycle and has a long record of opposing even the most basic rights for LGBTQ+ people. Bolduc is an opponent of marriage equality and has made clear that he opposes legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace. During his previous campaign, Bolduc used homophobic slurs in his own campaign ads — earning public condemnation from HRC for doing so.

HRC’s Commitment to New Hampshire

Equality Voters, including the 400,000 in New Hampshire, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

HRC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.