Republican Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt speaks during a Laxalt campaign event at Sun City Anthem Center in Henderson Friday, April 22, 2022. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens at right.
Published Friday, April 22, 2022 | 9:17 a.m.
Updated Friday, April 22, 2022 | 8:18 p.m.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas joined GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt in bashing Nevada’s senior Democratic U.S. senator during a campaign rally Friday in Henderson.
“Nevada is at the very front of the battle to take this country back,” Cruz said to applause from an audience of about 140 people at the Sun City Anthem Center Ballroom. “I’m here today because I’m supporting my friend, Adam Laxalt.”
Laxalt, who characterizes his bid to unseat Democratic Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as an effort to flip the evenly split Senate to Republican, emphasized the support that he and Cruz have from former President Donald Trump.
Laxalt served as co-chairman of Trump’s 2020 campaign in Nevada, and led failed legal challenges to Democratic President Joe Biden’s win in the battleground state.
Cruz mocked and derided Biden and joined Laxalt in linking Cortez Masto to a key campaign issue heading toward the June 14 GOP primary — the cost of gasoline. Cruz tied prices not to war in Ukraine, but to Biden campaign promises and administration policies.
“When you go fill up your truck and it’s 100 bucks or 150 bucks,” Cruz said, “when a mom today, coming home from school fills up her minivan and it’s 150 bucks to do it. That’s hurting people in this state. It’s hurting people across the country.”
Nevada Democratic Victory representative Olivia Davis, pointed to Laxalt’s work, after he lost his 2018 bid for governor in Nevada, with a Washington, D.C., law firm that represents a major oil company reaping profits from high prices.
“While Nevadans are paying high gas prices at the pump, Adam Laxalt has tried to blame everyone but his D.C. law firm’s big oil clients for rising prices,” Davis said.
Laxalt, during the rally, never mentioned his primary opponent, Reno businessman and U.S. Army veteran Sam Brown.
Laxalt and Cruz also made stops Thursday in northern Nevada, where Laxalt also criticized Cortez Masto’s stance on coronavirus policies and border security.
Both Laxalt and Cortez Masto have served as Nevada attorney general, and Laxalt has made law enforcement a theme of his campaign.
Cortez Masto campaign aide Sigalle Reshef responded Friday, saying Cortez Masto “has worked with Republicans to deliver billions of dollars in border security funding” and led efforts in the Senate to support Nevada law enforcement.
Cortez Masto has no primary challenger and a more than 5-to-1 advantage in campaign funds to spend over either of the GOP candidates.
Laxalt told the crowd they can expect a Cortez Masto television advertising blitz, but that they can’t trust the media. He directed his supporters to his internet website instead.
