Adam Laxalt pursues Senate run in Nevada to ‘win the war of ideas’ against the left

Former Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt is seeking to bring a pro-Trump agenda to his state, focusing on restoring voter confidence in elections.

The 43-year-old GOP candidate for Senate said his goal is to “win the war of ideas” playing out in the country, including the need to shore up security at the polls.

“People are upset, and they still don’t have great confidence in our elections,” Mr. Laxalt told The Washington Times. “We need to do our best to try and add a few of those layers of security, like poll watchers, in the 2022 elections. That will hopefully give us more confidence that the right votes are counted.”

Mr. Laxalt, whose name still carries political weight in Nevada, is hoping to oust Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who is running for a second term.

The Republican succeeded Mrs. Cortez Masto as the state’s attorney general in 2015. He made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018.

But now, Mr. Laxalt is trying to repeat history by winning Mrs. Cortez Masto’s Senate seat, despite the strong advantage the Democrat has in favorability.

“Catherine Cortez Masto is someone who is a reliable vote for Biden [and] a reliable vote for the left,” Mr. Laxalt said. “None of these policies are working for our state, and none of these policies are ones that voters have asked for, but they’re being shoved down our throats.”

But Mrs. Cortez Masto currently holds a 9-point lead over Mr. Laxalt, according to a poll conducted by the Nevada Independent/OH Predictive Insights.

The poll was conducted between Jan. 19-26 among 755 registered Nevada voters. It had an error margin of +/-3.5%.

Mrs. Cortez Masto served two terms as Nevada attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2016. She is the first woman and first Latina from Nevada elected to the upper chamber, replacing the late former Sen. Harry Reid.

Neither the senator nor her campaign office responded to requests for comment for this story.

Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, said the voting trends of the state will make it difficult for a Republican to capture a Senate seat.

“The state is not going to be an easy flip for the Republicans,” Mr. Lokken said. “Anything is possible if the economy goes bad between now and November, or if there’s some other issue that diminishes the credibility of the Democrats nationally that could play out within the state. But right now, it’s not quite as much of a toss-up state as Republicans are hoping it would be.”

Mr. Lokken credits migration from blue states to Nevada for its liberal trend, and the voter registration edge Democrats have in Clark County, the home of Las Vegas.

But Mr. Laxalt can use his historical ties to the state to secure support among older, more conservative, native Nevadans.

And he is expected to glide by other GOP hopefuls vying for Mrs. Cortez Masto’s Senate seat.

Other primary candidates who have announced their bids include Bill Hockstedler, a health care executive and Air Force veteran; retired Army Capt. Sam Brown, and Sharelle Mendenhall, a business owner and beauty pageant winner.

Mr. Laxalt is the grandson of former Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt and the illegitimate son of former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, which wasn’t revealed until 2013.

“The Laxalt name is legendary to at least native Nevadans,” Mr. Lokken said. “His family, their legacy, all of that in the United States Senate as late as the 1980s under the Reagan administration brought a lot of prominence to Nevada at the time.”

The Reno Republican also elevated his name last year in the aftermath of the 2020 election, where he helped lead lawsuits over allegations of a “rigged” election as co-chair of former President Donald Trump’s Nevada campaign.

Mr. Laxalt is not letting up on the issue of potential election fraud, either, warning of possible legal actions in his own election if there’s indication that there was foul play.

“It’ll be important to work with the party and all groups to make sure we’ve got election observers. We got poll watchers, and if there’s any litigation that needs to be had over the current rules that need to be looked at,” Mr. Laxalt said. “But we will continue to try to find as many ways as we can to make sure that certainly in Clark County, people have more confidence that the correct votes are being counted.”

Mr. Laxalt’s emphasis on election integrity is a stark contrast to Mrs. Cortez Masto, who blamed false claims of vote-rigging for the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

The senator described those who helped spread the claims as “extremists” who failed in their effort to overturn the 2020 election.

“The former president’s campaign and his supporters filed a total of five lawsuits challenging the security of the election system and targeting our state’s Secretary of State in Nevada,” Mrs. Cortez Masto said on the Senate floor in January. “Every one of those lawsuits was thrown out or failed. Every single one of them in Nevada.”

In addition to cleaning up elections, Mr. Laxalt is running on boosting border security, cracking down on crime, and giving parents more say in their children’s school curricula.

Above all, the candidate said he wants to be part of a new generation of Republicans who will go on offense to fight big government policies that he sees impacting his state.

“I’m running to reverse the tide that we’re facing right now,” Mr. Laxalt said. “A lot of Americans are incredibly upset with the direction of the country … People want young leaders like myself that are going to be willing to fight against these things. Helping to save our country is the bottom line.”

A November Trafalgar Group poll had Mr. Laxalt ahead of Ms. Cortez Masto by four points.

The poll, conducted Nov. 24-29, showed Mr. Laxalt with 44.1% compared to Ms. Cortez Masto who had 40.9%.

The poll surveyed 1,034 likely Nevada voters, and had an error margin of +/-2.99%.