14 Members of Laxalt Family Endorse Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto

Nevada’s Paul Laxalt has a “Paul Gosar problem” – his family hates him and endorses his political opponents.

I don’t know why, maybe it has something to do with the fact that he is Sen. Pete Domenici’s love child. Senator Had a Secret Son With Pundit Who Praised Him as a Great Dad:

Pundit and lobbyist Michelle Laxalt gave an impassioned defense of then-Sen. Pete Domenici on CNN in 2007, saying he was a man of “integrity” who was “supporting no fewer than eight children.” That curiously inexact reference to the number of his kids makes sense now that Domenici has admitted to secretly fathering a son with Laxalt in the 1980s.

Domenici admitted on Tuesday that Adam Paul Laxalt, a lawyer in Nevada, is actually his son. Michelle Laxalt is the daughter of former Sen. Paul Laxalt, and her family connections served her quite well. She was named one of the top 50 lobbyists in D.C. by the Washingtonian in 1993 and 1998.

I’m thinking it has more to do with the fact that Prominent Election Denier Adam Laxalt Wins Nevada GOP Senate Primary:

Since the 2020 election, Laxalt has emerged as a champion of Trump’s election fraud lies, especially among Republican senate hopefuls. A former Nevada attorney general who served as Trump’s campaign co-chair, Laxalt filed several lawsuits on behalf of Trump allies seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.

Laxalt has suggested he may challenge the results of his own race if he loses in November.

“With me at the top of the ticket, we’re going to be able to get everybody at the table and come up with a full plan, do our best to try to secure this election, get as many observers as we can, and file lawsuits early, if there are lawsuits we can file to try to tighten up the election,” Laxalt told a local radio host in August.

In a November 2020 op-ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Laxalt argued, without evidence, that Nevada election officials tabulated “thousands of illegal votes consisting of a combination of dead voters, out-of-state voters, double voters (those who cast ballots in Nevada and another state), among other improper votes.”

[H]is election-denying rhetoric hasn’t cost him the support of the establishment wing of the party. Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, see him as their best chance to oust Cortez Masto.

Nevada is still a purple state where elections are often decided by close margin. Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by less than three points. Cortez Masto won by roughly the same margin four years earlier.

The Nevada Independent reports, Fourteen members of Laxalt family endorse Democratic rival, Cortez Masto, in Senate race:

Fourteen members of Republican Senate candidate and former Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s family announced Wednesday that they would collectively endorse his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, in the heated race for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat.

The three-page letter, obtained by The Nevada Independent, does not mention Laxalt by name or his Senate campaign, focusing instead on praising Cortez Masto. That includes her positions on women’s issues, opposition to a proposed federal mining tax, public land preservation and her record as the state’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015.

“We believe that Catherine possesses a set of qualities that clearly speak of what we like to call ‘Nevada grit,’” the letter said, adding that “no further comments will be made, as we believe this letter speaks for itself.”

Nevada’s Senate race is among the most competitive nationwide, with control of the seat likely to determine which major party wields the Senate following the 2022 midterms.

Laxalt is the grandson of Paul Laxalt, a former senator and Nevada governor who for decades was one of the state’s most prominent Republican politicians.

The letter marks the second time that Laxalt’s extended family has chosen not to back his political aspirations. During Laxalt’s 2018 run for governor, 12 of his family members publicly opposed his bid, writing in an op-ed published in the Reno Gazette-Journal that Laxalt’s campaign “leveraged and exploited the family name.”

That letter prompted another 22 Laxalt family members to publish a separate op-ed defending his candidacy.

In response to Wednesday’s letter, Laxalt tweeted in part: “It’s not surprising that once again a handful of family members and spouses, half of whom do not live in Nevada, and most of whom are Democrats, are supporting a Democrat.”

Amid all competitive Senate contests nationwide, Cortez Masto’s race has emerged as a potential pick-up opportunity for Republicans, especially as Laxalt has continued to lead in multiple polls conducted after Labor Day — though the race still remains within the margin of error.

Cortez Masto, who was elected in 2016, is the first Latina senator.

You can help Sen. Cortez Masto fend off this fascist “Big Lie” election denier and save American democracy by contributing to her campaign.