Story highlights
N.H. GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown calls for "decisive action" after new Ebola diagnosis.
His opponent, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, calls his tactics "fearmongering."
Shaheen and Brown are locked in a statistical dead heat in the Granite state.
New Hampshire Senate Candidate Scott Brown responded to news that a new case of Ebola has been diagnosed in New York City, calling for “common-sense prevention mechanisms” in a statement released by his campaign Friday.
“The way to stop mass infection is by swift and decisive action, including a travel band and quarantining health workers returning from countries where Ebola is prevalent,” the release reads. “This is not a time for political correctness.”
Preventing the spread of Ebola was a major topic of Thursday night’s New Hampshire Senate debate, where Brown criticized incumbent Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen for relying on expert advice on how to contain the disease.
In the debate, Brown repeatedly voiced support for a travel ban to blockade passengers from Ebola-infected African countries to enter the U.S., a strategy medical experts have said would be counterproductive. He also criticzed President Obama’s “Ebola czar” appointment, insisting that the person in that position should be a medical doctor.
Shaheen shot back, calling Brown’s tactics “fearmongering.” “My opponent and I aren’t infectious disease experts,” she said, “so we really need to rely on experts.”
Her campaign did not immediately return CNN’s request to respond to Brown’s comment that she is “waffling” on a travel ban.
Shaheen and Brown are locked in a neck-and-neck race in the Granite State. A CNN/ORC poll from Thursday shows Shaheen with a two point lead over Brown with 49 percent and 47 percent respectively – but those numbers are within the poll’s 4 point margin of error.
Shaheen is tasked with the uphill battle of proving her independence from President Obama, whose job disapproval rating in the state is at nearly 60 percent.