GOP pins hopes on Nevada’s Laxalt to help win Senate control

May 8, 2022, 7:27 AM | Updated: 9:56 am

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The man Republicans hope could be their 51st senator, putting them back in power, took the stage recently at a rowdy country music bar in Las Vegas packed with excited voters.

Adam Laxalt is the grandson of a Republican senator from Nevada and an avowed conservative who was state attorney general before losing a 2018 race for governor. By his side in the bar was Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, a likely candidate for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination who was fresh off his legislation punishing Disney for opposing his new law baring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade.

Laxalt has already drawn criticism for being too hard-line to win a race in a state that has mostly elected Democrats over the past 15 years. But he called Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, his potential opponent in November, the partisan problem.

“Nevada deserves someone that will break from the radical left and stand with our state when we need courage,” Laxalt said to cheers from supporters waving “Patriots for Laxalt” signs. “We need independence and someone that will break from that party and stand with us.”

Nevada is central to the GOP’s hopes this year to retake the evenly-split Senate and potentially make longer-term inroads with minority voters. It’s the third most-diverse state, but Democratic margins have been steadily shrinking here since 2008, when Barack Obama became his party’s first presidential candidate to carry Nevada in 12 years.

Toppling Cortez Masto would not only give Republicans the additional seat needed for control — provided they do not lose any seats they now hold — but bragging rights to having greater appeal among immigrant communities.

It also would be a sign there are fewer barriers to aggressive conservatives than assumed.

Laxalt served a single term as Nevada’s attorney general, then was soundly defeated in his 2018 gubernatorial bid. In 2020, he co-chaired President Donald Trump’s campaign in Nevada and repeated Trump’s lies about the election being swung by voter fraud.

Laxalt is also a strong opponent of abortion rights, which Democrats hope will become a bigger vulnerability for him if the U.S. Supreme Court follows through with a draft opinion released last week that would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. His dilemma quickly became clear when he simultaneously praised the potential opinion as “an historic victory for the sanctity of life” but played down ts impact in Nevada, where voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution in 1990.

Cortez Masto, whose staff said she was not available for an interview for this story, tried to highlight the contrast in the race.

“My opponent says that overturning Roe v. Wade and ending protections for a woman’s right to choose is a ‘historic victory,'” she tweeted. “I trust women and their doctors to make the health care decisions that are best for them — not politicians.”

Laxalt’s conservative positions go well beyond abortion. He has warned that he may file lawsuits challenging the election even before the November vote. As attorney general he feuded with the state’s moderate Republican governor over guns, taxes and immigration.

Republicans argue that will not matter in a year when inflation is at 40-year highs and President Joe Biden’s approval numbers are scraping record lows.

“This election will be focused on inflation, the price of gas and Joe Biden’s first two years in office,” said Jeremy Hughes, a GOP strategist in the state. “Under that scenario, Adam Laxalt is in line with a vast majority of Nevada voters.”

There is a history in Nevada, however, of a Democratic senator defying the odds during a Republican wave year. In 2010, Sen. Harry Reid beat GOP challenger Sharron Angle by portraying her as extreme on immigration and unfit for higher office. Democrats have similar plans for Laxalt.

“Voters already rejected him,” said Josh Marcus-Blank, a spokesman for Cortez Masto’s campaign. “He’s only gotten worse.”

Reid, a legendary figure in Nevada and national politics, died of pancreatic cancer last year. He hand-picked Cortez Masto, herself a former attorney general, as the Democratic nominee when he retired in 2016. Cortez Masto is the first Latina U.S. senator. This year’s election will be the first test of Reid’s vaunted political operation since he died.

When his political machine has worked, Democrats have been able to win Nevada by rallying its heavily working-class, minority population with promises to protect their economic interests, immigration needs or both.

But because the state has a highly transient population and Democrats rely on poorer voters from communities that are less likely to vote, it’s very expensive to get enough people to show up. When there isn’t sufficient campaign money available to the party — such as in 2014, the year that Laxalt was elected attorney general — Democrats can get crushed.

Cortez Masto has proven to be a prolific campaign fundraiser, with $11 million in cash on hand as of the end of March.

But with core Democratic voters, especially young ones, depressed over Biden’s performance, it may be challenging to turn out the voters the incumbent needs. The issue will hinge on questions specific to Nevada, said Andres Ramirez, a Democratic strategist in Las Vegas.

“This election, at least in Nevada, is going to have less to do with Biden than with our own internal candidates and with turnout,” Ramirez said.

Laxalt is not the Republican nominee yet. He faces four other contestants in the June 14 primary, including Sam Brown, a former U.S. Army captain who earned a Purple Heart after being severely wounded in Afghanistan.

But Laxalt has the endorsement of Trump, as well as the backing of a wide swath of the GOP establishment, as seen last week when he was joined at Las Vegas-area campaign appearances by both DeSantis and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Though it’s a long flight from Washington, Nevada has become a popular destination for politicians thinking of running for president. The state holds one of the initial four nominating contests in the nation — Nevada’s caucus in 2020 was sandwiched between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries — and is also home to several deep-pocketed Republican donors.

Republicans also continue to have high hopes for their prospects in the Silver State, believing Cortez Masto has not shown herself to be as nimble and pugilistic a politician as her predecessor, Reid.

In contrast to 2010, when Reid made defense of a pro-immigrant bill known as the DREAM Act the centerpiece of his reelection bid, Cortez Masto has joined other Democrats in questioning Biden’s efforts to roll back pandemic rules that made it harder for border-crossers to apply for asylum in the U.S.

Laxalt contends she should have changed her approach earlier.

“If she decided to be the moderate she’s gonna run as, if she decided to be Joe Manchin, she could have gotten anything she wanted for this state,” Laxalt told a Republican country club audience in suburban Henderson, referring to the West Virginia moderate Democrat who has blocked major parts of Biden’s agenda. “She could have stood against the president and said, ‘Not for our state of Nevada.'”

Cortez Masto has so far stuck to low-key events promoting her ability to deliver wins for Nevada, such as securing $450 million for water recycling projects and $3.4 billion to combat wildfires as part of last year’s bipartisan infrastructure package.

“The senator gets her state,” her campaign spokesman, Marcus-Blank, said. “She’s been able to get a lot of things done and make a big difference.”

___

Riccardi reported from Denver.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

FILE - Police officers stand outside a Target store as a group of people protest across the street,...

Associated Press

Pride becomes a minefield for big companies, but many continue their support

Many big companies, including Target and Bud Light's parent, are still backing Pride events in June despite the minefield that the monthlong celebration has become for some of them.

2 days ago

FILE - Then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden plays music on a phone as he arrives to spe...

Associated Press

Biden, looking to shore up Hispanic support, faces pressure to get 2024 outreach details right

Joe Biden vowed in 2020 to work “like the devil” to energize Hispanic voters, and flew to Florida seven weeks before Election Day to do just that.

2 days ago

Editorial members of the Austin American-Statesman's Austin NewsGuild picket along the Congress Ave...

Associated Press

Correction: US-Gannett Walkout story

Journalists at two dozen local newspapers across the U.S. walked off the job Monday to demand an end to painful cost-cutting measures and a change of leadership at Gannett, the country's biggest newspaper chain.

2 days ago

FILE - The logo of the Organization of the Petroleoum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seen outside of...

Associated Press

Saudi Arabia reducing global oil supply, could spell higher prices for US drivers

Saudi Arabia will reduce how much oil it sends to the global economy, taking a unilateral step to prop up the sagging price of crude.

3 days ago

This photo provided by Robert Wilkes, owner of a house boat management company, shows smoke rising ...

Associated Press

Houseboats catch fire while docked at Wahweap Marina on Lake Powell

More than half a dozen house boats momentarily caught fire at a popular boating destination on the Utah-Arizona line on Friday.

5 days ago

File - Women work in a restaurant kitchen in Chicago, Thursday, March 23, 2023. On Friday, the U.S....

Associated Press

US hiring, unemployment jump in May and what that says about the economy

The nation’s employers stepped up their hiring in May, adding a robust 339,000 jobs, well above expectations.

5 days ago

Sponsored Articles

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Here are the biggest tips to keep your AC bill low this summer

PHOENIX — In Arizona during the summer, having a working air conditioning unit is not just a pleasure, but a necessity. No one wants to walk from their sweltering car just to continue to be hot in their home. As the triple digits hit around the Valley and are here to stay, your AC bill […]

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

How to identify the symptoms of 3 common anxiety disorders

Living with an anxiety disorder can be debilitating and cause significant stress for those who suffer from the condition.

(Photo: OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center)...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

Here’s what you need to know about OCD and where to find help

It's fair to say that most people know what obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders generally are, but there's a lot more information than meets the eye about a mental health diagnosis that affects about one in every 100 adults in the United States.

GOP pins hopes on Nevada’s Laxalt to help win Senate control