Ayotte touts bipartisanship ahead of reelection launch

Sen. Kelly Ayotte is playing up her efforts to reach across the aisle as she officially shifts back into campaign mode ahead of 2016.

The New Hampshire Republican’s campaign released a video Tuesday ahead of her expected reelection launch, touting her work with Senate Democrats on veterans issues and energy legislation.

Ayotte has been previously said that she would run for reelection, and she’s expected to make her bid official with supporters in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday night.

{mosads}”When I look for solutions, I don’t start in Washington, and I don’t assume one party has all of the answers,” she says in the video.

Ayotte adds that if she’s reelected she’ll keep “listening and learning, keep working across party lines to find common-sense solutions.”

Her focus on work with Democrats comes as Ayotte could face a tough campaign in the blue-leaning state. Democrats are hoping to lure Gov. Maggie Hassan into the race, though she hasn’t said if she intends to run.

Ayotte maintained a narrow lead over Hassan in a WMUR Granite State poll released last month, which found her with 45 percent support over Hassan’s 43 percent.

The campaign’s web video arrives after the Senate Majority PAC, a pro-Democratic outside group, targeted Ayotte recently. The digital ads mark the group’s first in the 2016 cycle.

Rebecca Lambe, the PAC’s co-chair, said that the focus will giving “the real facts about Washington insider Kelly Ayotte.”

New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Jennifer Horn came to Ayotte’s defense, calling her “one of the most effective and bipartisan members of the United States Senate” adding that she’s “earned another term.”

But Justin Barasky, the communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee quickly released a memo firing back at Ayotte’s video, saying that she “won’t be able to hide the fact she’s turned her back on New Hampshire. Kelly Ayotte is in trouble.”