'Stop Mark Kelly dead in his tracks': Arizona GOP chair sends out ominous fundraising pitch against Gabby Giffords' husband

Arizona's Republican Party chairwoman sent out an email calling on supporters to stop Democratic candidate Mark Kelly "dead in his tracks."

The wording of the fundraising email is particularly jarring because Kelly's wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head and wounded during a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson that left six people dead, reported Bloomberg News.

Kelly, a former NASA astronaut, is running against Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed last year to finish the late Sen. John McCain's term, in one of the nation's most competitive U.S. Senate races.

Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward pointed to Kelly's comments in a 2015 interview, when he said, “where there are more guns, people are less safe.”

“Support the Republican Party of Arizona today and, together, we’ll stop gun-grabber Mark Kelly dead in his tracks,” Ward said in the fundraising email.

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's political action committee drew criticism for circulating a map of electoral districts showing Giffords and 19 other Democrats under crosshairs, although no connection was ever established between the image and the shooting.