FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Contact: Josh Marcus-Blank, josh@jeanneshaheen.org

ICYMI: Jeanne Shaheen’s bipartisan efforts to deliver a tenfold increase in federal funding for New Hampshire to combat the opioid epidemic are the focus of her first television ad of the 2020 campaign. The first ad aired today and is broadcasting on WMUR and cable.

Union Leader: Shaheen’s first 2020 ad deals with opioid epidemic

CONCORD – The reelection campaign of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen aired its first TV ad Monday, highlighting her effort to increase federal aid for New Hampshire to fight the opioid epidemic.

The 30-second commercial starred Anne Marie Zanfagna of Plaistow who began painting what she called “Angels of Addiction” after her daughter, Jackie, died due to a heroin overdose.

“These pictures I call Angels of Addiction. Like my daughter, Jackie, they all died from opioids. Jeanne Shaheen understands there haven’t been enough places for treatment in New Hampshire so she took on her own party and got New Hampshire 10 times more funding for treatment and first responders,” Zanfagna narrates in the ad.

“Jeanne Shaheen understands how families feel.”

Shaheen led a successful effort in Congress starting two years ago to change the grant formula for states dealing with the spike in overdoses and deaths due to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids.

The changes set aside additional grant money for states like New Hampshire that on a per capita basis had among the most overdose deaths in the nation.

As a result, the annual grants for New Hampshire went up from $3 million to $35 million.

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WMUR: Shaheen’s first 2020 campaign TV ad focuses on opioid fight, features ‘Angels of Addiction’ creator

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Shaheen’s campaign chose to concentrate its first ad on an issue the campaign believes is among her strongest – the opioid fight.

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Instead, it’s a positive piece featuring Anne Marie Zanfagna of Plaistow, who received widespread attention in 2018 for her “Angels of Addiction” portrait exhibit of the faces of deceased victims of drugs in the Russell Senate Office building in Washington, D.C.

Zanfagna began by painting a portrait of her daughter, Jackie, who died of a heroin overdose in 2014.

[…]

“Jeanne Shaheen understands there haven’t been enough places for treatment in New Hampshire,” Zanfagna says in the ad. “So, she took on her own party and got New Hampshire 10 times more funding for treatment and first responders.”

“Jeanne Shaheen understands how families feel,” Zanfagna says.

Shaheen is shown in the ad walking with Zanfagna, as well as at a news conference discussing her “Turn the Tide Act” and speaking with a first responder.

Shaheen campaign: Senator ‘has taken on her own party’

“In responding to the opioid epidemic, New Hampshire has had no greater advocate than Jeanne Shaheen, who has taken on her own party to get more support and delivered a tenfold increase in opioid response funding to $35 million,” said campaign manager Harrell Kirstein.

Kirstein was referring to Shaheen’s advocacy for additional funding and for flexibility in the use of federal State Opioid Response Grants that was included in a $1.4 trillion overall federal government funding bill passed in late 2019.

“Among the first members of Congress to call for emergency opioid response in 2014, Jeanne Shaheen knows the substance use disorder crisis continues to be an urgent challenge during the coronavirus pandemic,” Kirstein said. “She will continue to apply pressure at every level of government to ensure New Hampshire has the support it needs to help those who are struggling.”

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