Republicans believe they have Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto on the ropes in Nevada, pointing to a fresh internal poll that shows challenger Adam Laxalt tied with the Democratic incumbent.
The Sept. 11–15 survey from the Laxalt campaign showed the former state attorney general and 2018 gubernatorial candidate narrowly leading Cortez Masto 39% to 37%, with 12% undecided and 12% favoring “none of the above,” which is an option for voters on Nevada ballots. The poll of 504 likely voters was conducted by Republican pollster Chris Wilson and had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
“Internal polling from September shows that this has quickly become a very tight race,” read a polling memorandum from the Laxalt campaign shared with the Washington Examiner Tuesday. “With each passing day of the Biden presidency, the environment gets better for Republicans.”
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Nevada is a perennial swing state, but Democrats have dominated there recently. President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump there in 2020, and the Democrats swept in Nevada in 2018 (Trump also lost the state in 2016). But Republicans are confident they can turn things around in the 2022 midterm elections, especially with Biden and the Democrats running into political trouble on myriad issues.
The race for the Republican nomination for governor is wide open and includes Dean Heller, who lost reelection to the Senate in 2018.
But in the GOP Senate primary, the party establishment is backing Laxalt over the competition. Trump endorsed him, and although the National Republican Senatorial Committee does not endorse in open primaries, GOP leaders in Washington are tacitly supporting his candidacy.
Senate Republicans need to gain one seat to recapture the majority, and putting Nevada in play would make doing so more likely.
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Some Democrats have dismissed Laxalt as a weak candidate with plenty of political flaws to expose. But others are warning their party not to take Nevada for granted, saying Cortez Masto is vulnerable.
The Democrat was elected to the Senate in 2016. Laxalt was elected to his single term as state attorney general in 2014.
