Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plays a starring role in a campaign mailer arriving in District of Columbia mailboxes.  

A snapshot of the Nevada Democrat standing shoulder to shoulder with Mayor Vincent Gray graces a flyer encouraging D.C. voters to give the mayor another four years at the helm of the city. It captures the tight-lipped scowl that appeared on Reid’s face when Gray crashed an Oct. 9 press conference that Senate Democrats were holding on the Capitol steps in the midst of this fall’s federal government shutdown.  

The mailer, paid for by Vince Gray 2014, tells voters to “remember who stood up for us” when they cast their ballots in the April 1 Democratic primary. Gray appears to be snarling at Reid in the picture, likely snapped just a few moments before Reid scolded the mayor: “I’m on your side … don’t screw it up.” Rather than shutting down in October, Gray and the D.C. Council opted to declare all the city’s workers “essential” and spend the money in the District’s contingency funds to keep municipal services running.  

“For years, Congress used its authority to push around the District of Columbia,” the campaign mailer reads. “Our city was a victim of yearly budget battles. Then Vince Gray became Mayor.”  

“When Congressional leaders tried to halt DC services during the federal government shutdown in 2013, Mayor Vince Gray stopped them — he kept the District open and kept thousands of workers on the job.”  

No word on whether the Senate’s top dog knows his image has been incorporated into campaign literature for the mayor, who has been fighting accusations that he knowingly participating in a corruption scheme to fund his 2010 campaign. Reid’s office did not immediately respond to inquiries.  

On Thursday afternoon, the Gray campaign sent supporters an email echoing the theme of the mailer.  

The subject: “Mayor Vincent Gray stood up to the Federal Government. And Won.”  

Corrected 4:51 p.m. An earlier version of this post misidentified Reid’s party affiliation. He is a Nevada Democrat.