A new USA Today/Suffolk poll in Nevada shows Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) holds the smallest of leads over challenger Adam Laxalt (R), 46% to 44%.
Nevada Senate Race Tests Potency of Abortion Focus
“Democrats predicted abortion would be Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s saving grace,” the AP reports.
“But inside Nevada’s crowded union halls, across its sun-scorched desert towns and on the buzzing Las Vegas strip, there are signs that outrage over the Supreme Court’s decision to dismantle abortion rights may not be enough to overcome intensifying economic concerns.”
“That’s leaving Cortez Masto as the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrat in the final month of a volatile midterm election year. Her predicament is the starkest example of the challenge facing Democrats nationwide as they try to capitalize on anger over the abortion ruling while Republicans focus on crime and stubborn inflation. If Cortez Masto can’t turn things around, the GOP would be well on its way to netting the one seat they need to retake the Senate and blunt the final two years of President Joe Biden’s term.”
Republicans See Nevada as Best Flip Opportunity
“In a volatile midterm election where Democrats have unexpectedly taken the lead in crucial battleground states, Republicans have found a glimmer of hope in their quest to seize control of the Senate,” NBC News reports.
“Eight weeks before Election Day, they’re within striking distance of capturing the seat long held by the late Democratic titan Harry Reid before Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won it in 2016.”
“Cortez Masto may be the most endangered Democratic incumbent in this cycle, even though her party hasn’t lost a Senate race here in a decade. While Democrats still project confidence, polls show a dead heat despite massive spending by Cortez Masto and an early assault of negative ads designed to tarnish rival Adam Laxalt.”
The FiveThirtyEight polling average has Cortez Masto ahead by four points.
Democrats Hold Slim Leads In Nevada
A new AARP-commissioned poll shared with the Nevada Independent finds Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) leading challenger Adam Laxalt (R), 44% to 40%.
In the gubernatorial race, Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) leads Joe Lombardo (R), 41% to 38%.
Cortez Masto Holds Solid Lead In Nevada
A new Reno Gazette-Journal/Suffolk poll in Nevada finds Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) leads her opponent, Adam Laxalt (R), by seven percentage points, 45% to 38%.
Aide to Nevada Republican Marched with Oath Keepers
“The new communications director for the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada — a key state that could determine control in Washington — marched to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, with two members of the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers including one who was later charged with sedition,” CNN reports.
Tim Scott Runs Ads In Nevada and Georgia
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), up for reelection this year and considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, is running direct-to-camera television ads in Nevada and in Georgia at a cost of nearly $2 million to boost his party’s candidates for Senate in those closely-watched races, Politico reports.
Cortez Masto Leads Laxalt in Nevada
A new Nevada Independent/OH Predictive Insights poll finds Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) leads likely opponent Adam Laxalt (R) by 8 percentage points among registered voters, 43% to 35%.
The poll follows one recently released by the Reno Gazette-Journal which showed Cortez Masto trailing Laxalt by 4 points among likely voters.
Nevada Democrats In Trouble
A new Suffolk University/Reno Gazette Journal poll in Nevada finds Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) are now polling behind candidates once considered long-shots to take their jobs.
In the U.S. Senate race, Adam Laxalt (R) tops Masto 43% to 40%, while Sam Brown (R) edges her 41% to 40%.
In the race for Governor, John Lee (R) leads Sisolak 40% to 37%, while Dean Heller (R) is tied at 39%.
Said pollster David Paleologos: “Any time an incumbent polls under 50%, he or she is deemed vulnerable because they are established brands. Moreover, when incumbents poll at or below 40% it is much worse, because it is very difficult to convince undecideds to vote for you when they remain undecided despite telling us that they are very interested in voting in this election.”
Three Senate Races Shift Towards the Republicans
The Cook Political Report moved three U.S. Senate races next year — in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada — from Lean Democrat to Toss Up.
Cortez Masto Holds Small Lead In Nevada
A new Nevada Independent poll finds Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) holds a narrow lead over her likely opponent Adam Laxalt (R), 45% to 41%.
Adam Laxalt to Run for Senate In Nevada
Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) plans to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in 2022, the AP reports.
He officially filed last night.
Laxalt Expected to Challenge Cortez-Masto
The head of the Senate Republican campaign arm says he expects former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) to challenge Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) next year, the Associated Press reports.
Laxalt lost in 2018 to now Gov. Steve Sisolak (D), 49% to 45%.
Sandoval Won’t Challenge Catherine Cortez Masto
Former Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) confirmed that he will not challenge Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) in 2022, the Nevada Independent reports.
Said Sandoval: “I have no interest in running and I will not be a candidate.”
Cortez Masto Launches Re-Election Bid
“With a message largely focused on providing better access to health care, immigration reform and helping Nevada rebound from the pandemic-triggered recession, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) officially announced her bid for a second term Wednesday,” the Nevada Independent reports.
Trump Says Heller Lost Because He Was ‘Hostile’
President Trump said that former Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) lost his re-election bid last fall because the Nevada Republican had been “extraordinarily hostile” to him during the 2016 election and the conservative base “wouldn’t go for him,” the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
When told of Trump’s comments, Heller said: “This president called me that day before the election and said I was going to win by five points. Now all of sudden he has a different spin on that. Not surprising. I think America’s used to that.”
Can Dean Heller Hang On to Win?
Jon Ralston does not think Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) will win re-election on Tuesday.
“It’s sad in a way for me to contemplate this. Heller is genuinely one of the nicest people I have met in politics. That incandescent smile, that buoyant demeanor, that carefree mien. But he has surrounded himself with a confederacy of jerks who have not served him well, and he has traveled far from the days when he was a maverick secretary of state who really seemed to believe in things 25 years ago.”
“He is now willing to sacrifice his self-respect to embrace – nay, fawn over – a man he would ordinarily disdain (and did just two years ago) to clutch onto a job he does not like and is not very good at. Heller’s Velcroing himself to Trump is a pathetic act of political opportunism and so out of (what I thought was) his character.”
Rosen Leads In Nevada
A new CNN poll in Nevada finds Jacky Rosen (D) leading Sen. Dean Heller in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 45% among likely voters.
Still, 10% of likely voters in the state say they haven’t yet made a firm decision on the race.
Key findings: “There’s been almost no change in the Nevada survey in the demographic divides fueling voter preferences. There remains a sharp gender gap, with a majority of women behind Rosen and most men backing Heller. White voters with college degrees narrowly break toward Rosen, while whites without a degree favor Heller by a wide margin.”
