LAS VEGAS (AP) – Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who has accepted lies about the 2020 election, won the Republican nomination for a key seat in the Nevada Senate, avoiding a newcomer challenge politician and creating what will likely be a fierce and costly race against incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, one of the most endangered Democrats in an equally divided Senate.
Laxalt enjoyed the support of the most influential Republican Party figures, from former President Donald Trump to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. But a last-minute challenge from newcomer politician Sam Brown forced Laxalt to spend heavily in the final weeks of the primary campaign and to have the support of some of his high-profile sponsors, especially those with ties to Trump. .
The confrontation with Cortez Masto comes at a difficult time for Democrats, who are weighed down by President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and who seek to maintain control of Congress as people across the U.S. struggle to raise prices. everyday goods and gasoline. Republicans see the race as their best chance to change seats in the Senate and regain a majority, but they are also waiting for a long-term signal that Nevada is returning in its direction after rejecting all GOP presidential candidates since of 2004.
“Together we took an important step tonight,” Laxalt said at an election nightclub in Reno, Nevada. “An important step in reclaiming our country, an important step in taking our great state of Nevada.”
Beyond the Senate race, Nevada Republicans also chose Joe Lombardo as a candidate to challenge Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak in what could be one of the most competitive gubernatorial races this year. And the GOP backed Jim Marchant as a candidate for secretary of state. A former state legislator, he has repeatedly made false claims about the presidential campaign and, if elected, would run for office in a state that could be critical in determining the 2024 White House winner.
Nevada was one of several states that held elections on Tuesday, in the middle of a primary season that could reshape American politics. The results provided warnings for both parties.
In South Texas, Democrats lost a longtime seat in the United States House. He is likely to recover in November, but Tuesday’s results were a reminder that the party’s position is at risk of falling among Latinos.
Meanwhile, Trump helped a South Carolina state lawmaker remove five-term incumbent Representative Tom Rice, who backed the former president’s second removal last year. While the victory could help Trump regain momentum after setbacks in a series of races last month, it happened in a rural, solidly Republican district of Congress. Another incumbent who the former president tried to defeat in a neighboring district, MP Nancy Mace, stopped the rival, attracting some of the suburban moderates who left the GOP during the Trump era.
Speaking to reporters after the results arrived, Mace tried to reach a consensus tone, promising to “work with anyone who is willing to work with me, period.”
For his part, Trump posted a statement on his social media platform saying that Mace’s rival, Katie Arrington, was a “great opportunity” to make a “great career.” He congratulated Mace, who said he should easily prevail over a Democrat in the fall.
Still, much of the attention on Tuesday was in Nevada.
Laxalt entered the primaries with strong recognition after serving for four years as Nevada’s attorney general. Grandson of former U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt, he campaigned unsuccessfully for governor in 2018.
But perhaps the most important thing in Republican circles is that he has ties to Trump. Laxalt worked on Trump’s re-election campaign and promoted his lies about state-run election fraud after the 2020 election, including heading for legal challenges to the vote-counting process. Trump, in turn, hosted Laxalt for a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and appeared in a campaign ad for Laxalt.
Trump’s false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election were linked throughout the campaign. Last fall, Laxalt began raising fears of electoral fraud in 2022 and spoke of increasing legal challenges as a precaution “in an attempt to toughen elections.”
Laxalt had insisted in 2020 that ineligible and dead voters voted in Nevada’s presidential election, although the Republican secretary of state insisted that the results showing Biden’s victory were accurate and reliable.
Brown, to the surprise of many in the state, won the endorsement of the Nevada Republican Party in a convention vote in late April and a GOP poll of the Las Vegas area at a May meeting. Recent surveys have shown that it is approaching Laxalt, although the state, with a transient population and many late shift workers due to the state’s tourism and casino industry, is considered fickle for pollsters. .
Laxalt is now concentrating on trying to defeat Cortez Masto, the first Latina elected to the Senate and successor to the late Senator Harry Reid. He is running for re-election as Democrats face headwinds this year, especially in the economy. In Nevada, high gas prices are very much felt by residents of the vast suburbs of Las Vegas or those traveling from far-flung rural areas.
These same factors could jeopardize the re-election of Nevada Democratic Gov. Sisolak. He will face Lombardo, the sheriff of Clark County, who also won a coveted Trump support.
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Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Meg Kinnard in Charleston, South Carolina, and Gabe Stern in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
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