WATCH: Ore. Republican's Campaign Ad Makes Gay History

A candidate for U.S. Senate in Oregon made history Tuesday by airing the first campaign ad for national office featuring a same-sex couple, reports Politico.

What makes the ad even more noteworthy is that the candidate it promotes is a Republican.

Monica Wehby is hoping Oregon voters will send her to Washington in November, removing junior Democratic incumbent senator Jeff Merkley. And to help make her case, the pediatric neurosurgeon enlisted a newly married gay man to tout her credentials, highlighting her support for marriage equality.

That man -- Portland resident Ben West -- also happens to be one half of the couple that successfully sued to overturn Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage. As a result of the case that West and his husband, Paul Rummell, filed, Oregon embraced marriage equality in May after a federal judge struck down the ban and the state's current leadership refused to appeal the ruling.

Politico reports that West initially cold-called Wehby's campaign office and wound up with an invitation to have drinks and appetizers with Wehby. West told Politico that he is a Republican who "has often crossed over to vote Democratic," while his husband, Rummell, "is a lifelong Democrat, but he's come to admire Wehby and backs her too."