Nixon retained Chotiner as a consultant to his first congressional campaign in 1946. In an era when the perceived threat of communism was a major domestic issue, Chotiner advised the future president to link his liberal opponent, Representative Jerry Voorhis, to a political organization which was believed to be communist-dominated. Nixon was elected, and hired Chotiner to run his 1950 Senate campaign against Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas. Chotiner used a similar strategy in that campaign, stressing Douglas' liberal voting record and printing the accusations on pink paper to hint at communist sympathy. Nixon eventually defeated Douglas by nine points. Chotiner next managed Nixon's 1952 vice presidential campaign. He counseled Nixon through allegations of antisemitism and revelations that there were privately run funds to pay Nixon's political expenses—revelations that the candidate decisively overcame with his televised Checkers speech.