Richard Louis Hanna (January 25, 1951 – March 15, 2020) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 2011 to 2017.

In an email to staff, Merren stated, "He indicated to me that we would not be considered for his ad dollars and our level of cooperation in the future could be affected."

After the inadvertent disclosure of the internal email, Merren told the press that Hanna "did not say he would pull his ad dollars."

The Lamb campaign said that Hanna was "using his money to influence the journalistic decisions of a local news agency.

"[3][4] In 2014, Hanna received a primary challenge from a considerably more conservative Republican, State Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney.

Described as a "Tea Party favorite," Tenney reportedly challenged Hanna because "she believed he had abandoned his conservative principles during two terms in Congress.

Editors from the Syracuse Post-Standard, which published the piece, later reprimanded Hanna[11] for plagiarizing content from a report by Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute in his editorial.

"[17] In the 2012 presidential election, he endorsed former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.[18] Hanna supported reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

[20] In June 2013, Hanna was the only Republican congressman to vote against proposed legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except for victims of rape or incest who have reported the crime to authorities.

He opposes partial birth abortions, but stated that he was unable to support this legislation because it would cast aside exception for the health of the mother, and it fails to adequately account for unique circumstances that can arise after 20 weeks because every pregnancy is specific.

Hanna indicated that a potential primary rematch with Claudia Tenney did not influence his decision not to seek re-election.

"[26] United States House Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Hanna lived in Barneveld, New York.