In the state of Nevada, a seat in the U.S. Senate held by Democrats since it was taken in 1987 by Sen. Harry Reid seems ready to flip.
Republican Senatorial Candidate Adam Laxalt is now holding a polling lead against Democrat incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
Another day, another poll showing us leading @CortezMasto!
The momentum behind our campaign to flip the Senate and become the 51st GOP seat grows stronger everyday.
Help us send Biden’s rubber stamp senator home at: https://t.co/mGaKJFJ7Tu pic.twitter.com/poznfFobzb
— Adam Paul Laxalt (@AdamLaxalt) October 20, 2022
Average polls in the race from FiveThirtyEight, placed Laxalt ahead by 0.7 percent at 45.2 percent of the polls with Cortez Masto trailing at 44.5 percent.
RealClearPolitics placed Laxalt up 1.7 percent on Cortez Masto.
The Nevada race hasn’t captured audiences like races in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, but the shift in Nevada politics could represent a seachange.
The seat in question, once held by the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid since 1987 was held before him by Laxalt’s grandfather, a successful Nevada Republican and former Governor.
The former Nevada Attorney General and Iraq War veteran, Laxalt has emerged as an unexpectedly dominant force as Suffolk University Political Research reported that Cortez Masto has been abandoned en masse by Hispanics in the state.
The incumbent Democrat once enjoyed a staggering 18-point edge, she’s now down to a 7-point lead among Hispanics.
It is no surprise that @CortezMasto is abandoning Nevada’s Hispanic Community now after abandoning them for the past 6 years.
Nevadans deserve a senator who shows up, not snubs them. pic.twitter.com/mx85m9NUZJ
— Adam Paul Laxalt (@AdamLaxalt) October 20, 2022
Dissecting why Cortez Masto seems to have stalled, Suffolk University Political Research Center director David Paleologos wrote, “48% of Hispanics named the economy/inflation as the number one issue, higher than whites (43%) and Blacks (23%).”
“Hispanic voters … they became seriously disillusioned with Democrat policies, and I always start with COVID,” Laxalt told The Washington Times right before a “Latinos for Laxalt” event. He noted that COVID-19 shutdowns were devastating to Hispanic-owned small businesses in Nevada and made life harder for working-class family with school-aged children.
“That was really, really tough for the Hispanic community,” he added.
“I hope we never shut down our economy again for something like COVID,” he said at the event. “The other thing that is killing Hispanic businesses and the Hispanic community all across the valley are Democratic policies that are increasing inflation, making everything cost more, making everything unaffordable.”
“It is making people change their lifestyles to adapt to Biden-Masto policies,” he said according to The Washington Examiner. “She never stood against these policies. … We need a senator who is going to be independent, and who will stand for this community and this state.”
