Markey ties GOP opponent to McConnell in Mass. Senate race

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is seeking to tie his opponent to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) in his Senate campaign in Massachusetts, a day after McConnell sent a fund-raising email on behalf of GOP nominee Gabriel Gomez.

{mosads}The Markey campaign produced a web video highlighting the money pitch and characterizing a Gomez victory as key to Republican attempts to obstruct President Obama’s agenda. “Mitch McConnell led Republicans creating gridlock in the U.S. Senate,” reads a message in the video. It cites McConnell’s opposition to Wall Street reform, an assault weapons ban and the Violence Against Women Act.

The video plays an excerpt of a McConnell speech from before the 2012 election, when he said the GOP’s top “political priority” was denying Obama a second term. “Don’t let national Republicans get their way,” reads another message.

The web ad is part of Markey’s strategy of nationalizing the Senate special election by tying Gomez to a national Republican Party that is unpopular in heavily Democratic Massachusetts.

“Mitch McConnell’s full-throated embrace of Gabriel Gomez sends a crystal clear message to the people of Massachusetts: send Gomez to Washington and he’ll join McConnell in obstructing President Obama and enacting a radical right-wing agenda that hurts Massachusetts families,” Markey campaign spokesman Andrew Zucker said in a statement. “Gabriel Gomez joining Mitch McConnell in Washington would bring national Republicans one step closer to controlling the Senate and blocking commonsense gun laws, protecting tax breaks for millionaires and ending a woman’s right to choose.”

The election is June 25, and Markey has led in the polls.