Senator Kay Hagan (D., N.C.) is having a bad news day in the middle of one of the hottest races in the country.

“When Kay Hagan voted for President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus package, the Democratic senator hailed it as ‘the best way forward for working families across North Carolina,’” Politico reports. “One of the families that later benefited is her own.”

Hagan touted the renewable-energy aspects of the law after it passed. A company owned by her brother-in-law, where her husband also serves on the board of directors, received federal funding to buy solar panels and take other steps to be more energy efficient.

The question of whether Hagan did anything improper hinges on whether she was involved in her husband getting the grants. “The Hagan campaign said the senator did not help her husband win the federal funding and disputed any suggestion they have profited off the law,” Politico reports.

Somewhere, a super PAC is cutting an ad highlighting “How Sen. Kay Hagan’s husband won stimulus cash,” to quote the Politico headline. Given how voters already distrust politicians, it’s easy to imagine that being a damaging attack for Hagan, even if she didn’t exert undue influence on her family’s behalf.