The Minnesota businessman running to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) named her as part of the “war on women” Sunday in an interview with MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry.

“She has engaged in a war on women,” said Jim Graves, who currently trails Bachmann by six points among likely voters. “She would like to take women back 50 years and go back to a male-dominant society, control women’s reproductive rights, control their equal pay, control everything about women.”

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Grave’s statement marks a rare occasion when Bachmann has been associated with the term, more commonly used in connection with other GOP lawmakers like Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), vice-presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Indiana senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock.

Graves also pointed out that Bachmann endorsed Akin in his race, and has stayed silent over the uproar surrounding Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments earlier this year.

In an interview last month, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also linked Akin with Bachmann, saying he made her “look like a hippie.”

When Harris-Perry noted the seeming incongruity over Graves, a male hotel chain owner, taking more progressive positions on women’s issues than Bachmann, he slammed Bachmann’s voting record.

“She voted against equal pay for equal work for women,” Graves said. “She votes against reproductive rights, she votes against even women to have access to birth control.”

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Graves’ accusations against Bachmann, aired Sunday on MSNBC, can be seen below.

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