If abortion is your issue, there ain’t much of a difference between Senate candidates Andy Kim and Curtis Bashaw.

At least according to Team Bashaw.

“Curtis Bashaw is pro-choice.  Andy Kim is pro-choice.”

That from Jeanette Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Bashaw campaign.

Team Kim, naturally, disagrees.

“When it comes to reproductive rights, Curtis Bashaw can’t be trusted,” Kim says in a statement

released by his campaign. “It’s not about what he says, it’s about who he surrounds himself with. These extreme Republicans are backing Bashaw because they know he’ll rubber stamp their agenda. New Jersey voters deserve someone who will fight for them and not an out-of-touch agenda.”

Abortion is a major issue for Democrats and the party wants to do all it can to paint Republicans as anti-choice extremists.

The impetus for the latest sparring is Bashaw’s scheduled appearance at a fundraiser Wednesday hosted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Broadly speaking, it’s no surprise that a Republican Senate candidate from New Jersey would fundraise with a committee that exists to elect Republicans.

But the Kim campaign sees something more sinister afoot.

It says Bashaw will appear with four other senators – Steve Daines (Montana), Rick Scott (Florida), Tommy Tuberville (Alabama) and Ted Budd (North Carolina) – who oppose abortion rights.

“All four GOP Senators signed onto an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, cosponsored legislation that would ban abortion after 20 weeks and hold providers criminally responsible, and voted against protecting IVF treatment nationally,” the campaign says.

More bluntly, it adds:

“…. Curtis Bashaw will campaign with anti-choice extremist Senators at a high-dollar fundraiser in Washington, showing New Jersey voters his true colors on reproductive freedom.”

Objectively speaking, there does seem to be some “guilt by association” going on here.

Still,  Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, senior vice president of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, says that Kim is the only candidate in the Senate race “that New Jerseyans can trust to defend reproductive freedoms and stand up for access to lifesaving healthcare.”

Speaking for the Bashaw campaign more generally, Hoffman had a different take. She said:

“The difference is Curtis Bashaw can work with people he disagrees with. Andy Kim has never – and will never – work across the aisle. Curtis Bashaw believes bipartisanship is good while Andy Kim votes with his party 100 percent.”

She added that voters deserve better and that’s why “New Jersey Senate’s seat is a toss-up.”

A poll done by the Bashaw campaign in August showed Kim with a 5-point lead.