Worries over Obamacare helped Republican Scott Brown upset Democrat Martha Coakley in a special Senate election in Massachusetts in 2010.
Now the trio of scandals currently plaguing the White House have some thinking of a repeat for GOP nominee Gabriel Gomez as he faces Democratic Rep. Edward Markie, National Journal reports.
The comparison might not pan out,
National Journal notes, because there currently is no data to show Obama's approval from voters has suffered because of the scandals.
Still, Gomez has taken the opportunity with a new ad to try to tie Markey, a 36-year congressman, with the dysfunctional D.C. culture.
“Washington is in the midst of some of the biggest scandals in our lifetime -- the IRS targeting citizens for political reasons, DOJ seizing phone records from the press, and new conflicting accounts on Benghazi,” Gomez said in a prepared statement. “These scandals mark a major abuse of government power and a lack of transparency in government. And what is Congressman Markey doing about them? Nothing.”
Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, is echoing Brown's campaign, saying he would provide a fresh face in Washington compared to the Democrat who would just make things worse.
"No two elections are the same, but the circumstances in Massachusetts have eerie similarities between 2010 and 2013 in terms of a changing political environment and a Democratic candidate who is viewed as not necessarily in touch with the average voter in Massachusetts," GOP strategist Brian Walsh
told National Journal. "It's still a very blue state, but as in 2010, Democratic strategists have to be increasingly nervous."