State of the Race: Nevada Senate

June 13, 2022

A new slate of Primary elections is set to kick-off, and the Jewish Political Guide is keeping a close tab on the potential makeups of the 118th Congress. With 4 States, Maine, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Nevada, conducting primary elections, there is much to look out for. Make sure to keep in tune with our State of the Race Updates and help us continue serving as the Jewish Voice of Tomorrow. 

In this installment of our State of the Race series, we are taking a look at the important Senate Race for a seat in the Nevada Delegation.  

Democratic Primary

Fighting for her second term in Congress, incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has an important record on issues of great relevance to the Jewish community. Moreover, the Senator has laid positive assurances that focus on these issues will continue if re-elected. Prior to her initial election to the Senate, Senator Cortez Masto served as the Nevada Attorney General from 2007 to 2015.

Below are some of Senator Cortez Masto’s voting record and public positions on issues important to the Jewish community. 

• Senator Cortez Masto supported the Iran nuclear deal. She opposed UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which claimed that Israel’s settlements have no legal validity. She did not support the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

• In 2018, Senator Cortez Masto cosponsored the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act. This legislation supported full funding of security assistance to Israel as outlined in the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding.

• In 2019, she voted for the Strengthening America’s Middle East Security Act which, among other things, strengthened Israel’s security and allowed a state or local government to adopt measures to divest its assets from entities that boycott Israel.

• Senator Cortez Masto is a cosponsor of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which aims to provide for the consideration of a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities.

Republican Primary

As described by the New York Times, “Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, is likely to face Adam Laxalt, the Republican former state attorney general who has the backing of both former President Donald J. Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell.” 

According to the Nevada Independent, “Laxalt has defined his campaign largely by his connections to the Trump wing of the Republican Party, frequently touting his endorsements from the former president and Trump-adjacent surrogates. The very first image on his campaign website is a pop-up card emblazoned with Trump, Laxalt, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rising star of the national party and Laxalt’s former roommate at the Naval Justice School. By April, he had taken the stage with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. DeSantis, by far the biggest-name campaign surrogates to visit Nevada in 2022 thus far.”

Adam Laxalt has been a fixture in state GOP politics since moving to Nevada in 2011 following a stint in the Navy ahead of a bid for attorney general in 2014. He is the son of former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici and grandson of the highly influential former Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt. 

On issues of significance to the Jewish community, Laxalt’s positions remain relatively unknown. After reviewing his campaign website, specifically on his Issues page, no section or related material is available regarding his thoughts on Israel, the rise in antisemitism, BDS, or other topics of Jewish importance. However, as Attorney General of Nevada in 2018, Mr. Laxalt filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Arizona’s law against anti-Israeli boycotts.

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