Senate races

A conservative group is touting Sen. Kelly Ayotte's (R-N.H.) gun control efforts in a new ad, an effort to protect the senator against a barrage of attacks from pro-gun control groups following her vote against the Manchin-Toomey gun control bill.

The Republican congressman will run for reelection in the House rather than seek outgoing Sen. Saxby Chambliss's seat. 

A pro-McConnell advocacy group is launching its first ad on Friday, touting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) fight against President Obama's health care reform law.

National Democrats are questioning Republican nominee for Massachusetts Senate Gabriel Gomez on a controversial tax deduction he took, in an effort to tie him to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

A political action committee backed by former Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich has endorsed Gabriel Gomez in the race for Senate in Massachusetts.

A new poll released Thursday shows Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) holding just a six-point lead over Republican nominee Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, suggesting the highly scrutinized special election may remain a close race.

The WBUR survey released Thursday shows Markey with a 41-35 percent advantage over Gomez among Massachusetts voters.

“Either way you look at it — with leaners or without leaners — you’ve got a race within single digits coming out of the primary,” says Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, in a statement. “You’ve got a competitive race.”

South Dakota has its first Democratic contender for the state's open Senate seat in Rick Weiland, whose decision to run could set up a primary rematch between him and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Markey leads Gomez 52-35 in the new Suffolk University/7 News poll.

Republican Gabriel Gomez is distancing himself from a group for which he once acted as spokesman, his affiliation to which has become a central line of attack for Democrats in the Massachusetts Senate race.
Read more...

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is touting his work on telecom policy in his first ad of the general election campaign for Senate in Massachusetts.