GOP ad says stimulus helped Hagan

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis’s (R) newest spot accuses Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) of personally benefiting from the federal stimulus package she helped pass.

The ad is part of a closing argument by Tillis that he hopes will turn undecided voters against the incumbent in the tight race.

The spot is focuses on reports that a business owned by Hagan’s husband benefited financially from grants created by the stimulus bill.

{mosads}”Days after Kay Hagan took office, she pushed Obama’s stimulus bill,” the ad’s narrator says. “It did help Kay Hagan move forward personally … grants tucked away in Obama’s Stimulus paid to Hagans. She’s 96 percent for Obama, 100 percent for herself.”

A report in Politico said a business owned by Hagan’s husband received nearly $390,000 in federal grants for energy projects and tax credits through the stimulus.

The same report, however, noted that Tillis voted to allow North Carolina to take part in the federal renewable energy tax credit program, and that this benefitted a bank in which he held stock.

Hagan has had a small lead over Tillis in most recent public polling, though the race remains close. Republicans believe an influx of ad spending, evening out an advantage Democrats have had, could push the race back in Tillis’s direction.

Outside groups are also pouncing on the stimulus message.

Freedom Partners, a conservative group with ties to billionaire donors Charles and David Koch, released an ad on the same topic Friday.

Hagan’s campaign was quick to respond with an ad of her own pushing back on the attack and questioning Tillis’s own ethics.

“Now Thom Tillis is even attacking Kay Hagan’s family. The truth? Hagan’s family didn’t profit, the energy efficiency project was cleared by an ethics lawyer and approved by auditors every step of the way,” the ad’s narrator says. “It’s Thom Tillis who has the ethics problem, caught using his official office to personally profit on a land deal.”

— This post was updated at 10:30 a.m.