In 50 BC Marcellus was elected consul for the following year alongside Lentulus Crus, as opponents to Caesar. Both his brother Marcus and cousin Gaius (Minor) had strongly opposed Caesar during their own consulships, working to have his proconsulship of Gaul terminated and to prevent Caesar from standing for election as consul of 48 BC "in absentia". Caesar had blocked Marcus by working with the tribunes and the other consul, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, and then Gaius (Minor) by heavily bribing his consular colleague, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, but had not yet been able to secure election to a second consulship without having to stand as a candidate in Rome and without relinquishing his proconsular command (which would expose him to prosecution for illegalities in his first consulship). The election of Marcellus and Lentulus as consuls for 49 BC was within the normal framework of family connections and influences, but also a snub to Caesar through his own candidate, Servius Sulpicius Galba. Gaius Marcellus and Lentulus Crus continued the policy of the Claudii Marcelli in their opposition to Caesar.