RENO, Nevada aEUR ” Two of Nevada’s top races are being contested by Trump-endorsed Republicans. They hope to challenge incumbent Democrats.
U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, and Gov. Steve Sisolak and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto are facing serious challenges in their reelection efforts, as the party struggles to combat high inflation and President Biden’s poor performance in recent polls.
Recent research by the University of Nevada Reno found Cortez Masto to be ahead of her GOP counterparts in a poll. However, earlier surveys showed narrower margins. The race could also be a factor in the U.S. Senate’s partisan control: Forecasters see her as one of the most vulnerable Democrats.
Adam Laxalt, former state attorney general, is the frontrunner for the Republican Senate primary. He has always led his opponents in the polls. According to the Federal Election Commission, Laxalt also has the most money: He has raised $5.8million. Sam Brown, a veteran who is also a business owner, was severely wounded in Afghanistan fighting and has been working to close the gap by raising money from individual donors.
Both campaigns promote an “America First” agenda by promising to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and meet voter identification requirements. However, the former president has given his endorsement to Laxalt aEUR”, who was part of efforts to block vote count during the 2020 presidential election.
Laxalt continues to promote Trump’s election lies and has appeared alongside far-right extremists as part of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. This group is allied with militias such as the Oath Keepers.
Republicans will be campaigning for the Democratic governor’s response over the past couple of years to the pandemic. Sisolak issued executive orders temporarily closing businesses and then imposed occupancy caps as well as mask mandates when infection rates increased.
Republicans tried to capitalize upon the anxiety Nevadans felt during lockdowns by blaming Sisolak and ignoring the high death rates in conservative rural counties that ignored public health guidance.
Tom Collins, a former Clark County commissioner, will challenge the governor in the Democratic primary.
Trump-endorsed Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo leads recent polling by 13 percentage points. He became well-known after the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017. Lombardo cast doubt on 2020’s election, but did not explicitly call it fraudulent. However, Joey Gilbert, his closest rival has fully accepted Trump’s lies.
