Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK:

Trump stumps on the horn for Laxalt before Tuesday’s primary

Laxalt Campaigns with Donald Trump Jr. in Las Vegas

Steve Marcus

Republican Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt speaks during a campaign event at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country Friday, June 10, 2022.

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is leaning on President Donald Trump in final days in this leg of his U.S. Senate campaign ahead of Tuesday’s primary vote.

While three other Republicans — Sam Brown, Bill Hockstedler and Sharelle Mendenhall — are vying for the party’s nomination, Trump in a tele-rally Wednesday for Laxalt told those on the phone line that a vote for them would be a waste.

“A vote for any other candidate in the primary is really a vote that’s hurting your state very badly,” Trump said, “and your country very badly because it’s not going to register. It’s not going to help, and we have to get the man that’s going to be able to win.”

Trump has long tabbed Laxalt as the candidate to get behind as the Republicans look to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in a race many believe could determine the majority in the Senate.

Trump laid out a grim situation, talking about high gas prices and the lack of energy independence, proclaiming there’s one person who can fix it: his buddy Laxalt.

Laxalt attempted to prove his loyalty to Trump in the days after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden by more than 30,000 votes in Nevada, filing numerous lawsuits touting claims that the election was stolen and that mail-in ballots were submitted fraudulently.

Those claims have been proven false in court challenges, and Nevada’s Republican secretary of state has assured the public the election was free and fair, and untainted by meaningful fraud.

Laxalt said Trump will be a part of the campaign every step of the way, from their “primary victory as well as our general election victory.” That included Donald Trump Jr. last week when he campaigned for Laxalt and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who is looking to face off against Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Brown, the candidate who has raised the second-most campaign funds after Laxalt, does not seem deterred. He said in a statement to the Sun that Laxalt was handed every advantage in his governor’s race against Sisolak in 2018, but it didn’t help.

“The establishment gave him all the money, all the endorsements, and he started with a lead in the polls,” Brown said. “It was his race to lose, and he managed to lose it. If we’re going to defeat Cortez Masto, we’re going to need new conservative leadership in Nevada.”

But an endorsement from Trump is extremely valuable. A poll of Nevada Republicans from late March found that many identify as “Trump Republicans” over labels like “traditional Republican” and “Tea Party Republican.”

During the rally, Trump said Laxalt stood up for farmers, miners and blue-collar workers. He defended the Second Amendment and supported law enforcement officers, Trump said.

“Adam was also a rock-solid defender of the election integrity,” Trump said. “He stood up to the radical Democrats. … He exposed the glaring irregularities and wrongdoings by the very corrupt Democrat Party in Nevada.”

As a senator, Trump said Laxalt would work to secure universal voter ID, lower gas prices, ban critical race theory, keep men out of women’s sports, secure the borders and “stop illegal information once and for all.” He talked about how the largest group of people are coming into the country as a “caravan,” a term he said he came up with (caravan originates from the 15th century in France).

Laxalt accused Cortez Masto of not doing anything during her eight years as attorney general, contrasting with his work to clear the rape kit backlog, create a military legal assistance program and have the first human trafficking conviction.

“I took seriously being Nevada’s top cop,” Laxalt said.

In 2014, however, Laxalt had a different view. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he wanted to continue many of the programs started by Cortez Masto, calling her a “role model” in how she ran the attorney general’s office.

Cortez Masto’s campaign released a statement saying that it is no surprise Trump is rallying behind Laxalt, who was Trump’s campaign co-chair in Nevada and led the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

“Laxalt has shown he’ll do whatever it takes to try to get power — even if that means breaking the rules — and is already planning lawsuits to challenge this year’s election before a single vote has been cast,” Josh Marcus-Blank, Cortez Masto’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.

There’s one thing Trump said that is indisputable: Laxalt’s race is one of the nation’s most critical. Political analysts have said it race could flip Congress red, taking away Democrats’ control, and eyes from across the country are going to be watching Nevada, both on Tuesday when the Republican nomination is secured, and in November when Republicans could gain power.

Guns and Washington

Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 students and two teachers dead, the U.S. House passed a package of gun reform bills Wednesday, mostly along party lines, 223-204.

Five Republicans — Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Chris Jacobs of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Fred Upton of Michigan — joined all but two of the Democrats. The legislation will go before the Senate, but it is unlikely to pass with the Senate split 50-50.

The legislation, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, would ban high-capacity magazines, raise the age to buy military-style rifles to 21, ban bump stocks and ghost guns, implement federal law and penalties on straw purchasing and gun trafficking, and would promote safe gun storage.

The majority of Republicans are against the act, arguing that it infringes on the Second Amendment, and instead favor increasing security or arming teachers to curb school shootings. One Republican-proposed bill, the Police Officers Protecting Children Act, would allow law enforcement officers or retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed firearm onto school grounds if approved by the local school board.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., voted against the Protecting Our Kids Act, and said in a statement that Democrats have focused “solely on gun control, without any provisions addressing school safety.”

“While the messaging of this bill will be turned into who does and does not support the safety of our children and communities, it’s awful that common-sense measures that actually work to harden our schools are ignored by House Democrats in favor of an anti-Second Amendment agenda they have openly pushed for years,” Amodei said in the statement.

Amodei pointed to hardening security airports, places of worship and government buildings in response to tragic events, but “for purely political agenda reasons, we cannot agree to add needed security infrastructure when it comes to our schools.”

Nevada’s Democratic representatives also spoke last week about the gun reform bills.

On the House floor, Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., talked about how his father was killed 30 years ago by gun violence. He spoke with a “heavy heart” for the victims in the recent shootings in Uvalde, at a grocery story in Buffalo, N.Y, and at a hospital in Tulsa.

“I rise today with a heavy heart for those who have been murdered by gun violence and the survivors who now must live with the trauma every single day,” Horsford said. “I have a heavy heart, but I also have courage to protect our children.”

Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., talked about how she has spoken with mothers in her district who are frightened for their children’s safety.

“We cannot pretend we have not been here before, and we cannot fail to act yet again,” Lee said. “And I’ve heard the echoes of decades of disappointment and frustration as Congress has failed over and over again to do something. This is not about politics. This is about protecting our kids.”

While Democrats and Republicans argue about the cause of the mass shootings and the solutions — with Democrats saying it’s guns and arguing for gun reform laws, and Republicans saying it’s mental health and pushing for more security — at least they agree on one thing: It’s time to do something.

Curbing violence, fighting hunger

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., sent a letter with other representatives to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the department to develop a plan for violent extremists in anticipation of the Supreme Court “defining the future of Roe v. Wade,” her office said in a statement.

“In the wake of the draft decision leak last month that would overturn a nearly 50-year precedent, the number of violent threats online against clinics, advocates, Supreme Court justices and government officials increased exponentially,” the members wrote in the letter. “Immediately following the draft leak, online forums were rife with threats to burn down buildings, hurt Supreme Court justices and their families, and commit violent acts against demonstrators.”

One of those threats came Wednesday, when a man armed with a gun, knife and other weapons was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland. The man told federal authorities he was upset about upcoming decisions on abortion and gun control.

Also last week, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced the Deterring Enemy Forces and Enabling National Defense Act. The legislation would require the Department of Defense to develop a strategy with Israel and Arab states to advance “an integrated air and missile defense architecture” and to protect the Middle East against Iranian aggression, according to Rosen’s office.

“As U.S. forces and our partners in the Middle East face increasingly sophisticated air and missile threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies, we must act in a coordinated way to defend against shared threats,” Rosen said in a statement. “Our bipartisan, bicameral legislation will support the Department of Defense’s efforts to integrate the defense capabilities of our Middle Eastern allies and partners, including Israel, and leverage their unique capabilities to develop an integrated air and missile defense architecture.”

Additionally, Lee announced that the Nevada Department of Agriculture will receive $652,983 in the Emergency Food Assistance Program’s Reach and Resiliency grant funding, which will help Nevada identify communities underserved by the program and help distribute more food, including through the expansion of mobile and drive-thru models, Lee’s office said in a statement.

The grant funding was made available through the American Rescue Plan, which Lee and Nevada’s other Democratic delegates voted for.

“The pandemic only exacerbated food insecurity issues in Nevada,” Lee said in a statement. “Now that we’re on our way to recovery, we must continue to prioritize ensuring that every Nevadan has access to the nutritious foods they and their families need.”

Countdown

Days to primary: 2

Days to general: 148