Senate races

Crossroads ties Begich to VA scandal

Conservative group Crossroads GPS ties Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) to the ongoing scandal at the Veterans Affairs Department in a new ad, accusing him of not doing enough to fix the problem.

{mosads}”A national disgrace. Veterans died waiting for care that never came. Sen. Mark Begich sits on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. His response? If there’s a problem, they need to fix it. If there’s a problem?” says the ad’s narrator.

The ongoing scandal at the VA has led to calls from many Republicans (and a few Democrats) for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation. Begich has been critical of Shinseki but has stopped short of calling for him to resign.

Republicans have been looking to leverage the scandal for political gain. The Republican National Committee has also been making robocalls wanting 10 Senate Democrats to call for investigations into the VA’s problems.

Alaska has a large population of active-duty members of the military as well as veterans.