Adam Laxalt, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, talks to supporters Wednesday at the Carson City Republican Party headquarters. The Adam Laxalt for U.S. Senate bus tour made additional stops in Fallon and Fernley and also stopped Thursday at Virginia City and Minden.
U.S. senatorial candidate Adam Laxalt completed his first week of a two-week bus tour with local stops in Carson City on Wednesday and Minden and Virginia City on Thursday. Laxalt vowed to speak to voters in every county of the state.
On the same day Laxalt’s bus tour stopped in Carson City, the Republican challenger also visited Fallon and Fernley.
“We’re going to every corner of the state,” Laxalt told more than 100 supporters who had gathered at the Carson City Republican office. “We’re telling everyone that we have one shot to save Nevada this election.”
Laxalt, the state’s former attorney general from 2015 to 2019, is locked in a tight race with incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto who was first elected in 2016. The first-term senator carried only county, Clark, in 2016 against challenger Joe Heck.
Laxalt said Cortez Masto has been missing from the campaign trail this fall and mentioned former President Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, are coming to the Silver State to campaign for her, but not President Joe Biden.
As Laxalt revved up the crowed, he posed a rhetorical question.
“What is her record” he asked. “Her record is being a 100% rubber stamp for Joe Biden.”
Laxalt said Cortez Masto has voted for bills that add more money to the national debt.
Steve Ranson / NNG
A man who identified himself as Carson Dan signs the front of the bus Wednesday at a rally for Republican senatorial candidate Adam Laxalt. The Adam Laxalt for U.S. Senate bus tour made a stop at the Carson City Republican Party headquarters.
“You don’t have my vote for more spending,” he said, accusing her as a reliable vote for the Biden administration.
“Does everyone remember $2 (per gallon) gas?” Laxalt asked. “In 2020 under President (Donald) Trump, we had $2 gas. Now we pay over $6.”
Laxalt also touted his background as one who supports law enforcement. He said law and order is “near and dear to his heart” and that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which is part of Public Safety Alliance of Nevada (PSAN), endorsed him. PSAN includes the Police Officers Association of Clark County School District, the Reno Police Protective Association and the Washoe County Sheriff Deputies Association.
“She had the support of Metro in 2016, but they have flipped to me in this race,” Laxalt said. “They all know I will stand with law enforcement.”
Laxalt also touched on “the porous southern border” which has been a major source of human trafficking, and how Nevada is at the crossroads for this election cycle.
“If we don’t win, Nevada is gone forever,” he said.
Steve Ranson / NNG
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, left, of Mississippi talks to local Republicans Wednesday on the Northern Nevada first stop of the Adam Laxalt for U.S. Senate bus tour. With the senator is Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general.
Other Republican speakers also expounded on Laxalt’s candidacy including U.S Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and former Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida. They also accompanied Laxalt on Thursday’s bus tour along with Morgan Ortagus, former spokesperson for the United States Department of State under the Trump Administration, and Tommy Hicks, the Republican National Committee co-chair.
Hyde-Smith told the Carson City audience she was accompanying Laxalt to help send him to the Senate.
“This is an audience participation election,” she said.
Hyde-Smith said supporters must vote as well as telling their friends to vote. She said Laxalt is needed in the Senate to help with the issues including the borders and economy. She said the economy is hurting everyone.
“I’ve been taking pictures today of the gas prices in Nevada to send back to my husband in Mississippi,” she said before noticing a placard.
“I love these ladies for Laxalt,” he said.
Steve Ranson / NNG
Carson City was the first Northern Nevada stop Wednesday for the Adam Laxalt for U.S. Senate bus tour.
Bondi said she traveled to Nevada because of her friendship with Laxalt, they both served during the same time as attorneys general.
“Everyone is coming here to support Adam Laxalt because this race is so important,” she said.
Bondi said Laxalt was also a Second Amendment rights champion with her, and they also had a concern about illegal immigration. She said they were also concerned with the opioid epidemic and human trafficking.
Steve Ranson / NNG
Supporters of Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, begin arriving Wednesday at the Carson City Republican Party headquarters to welcome his statewide bus tour.