From Axios:
Nevada's Republican senatorial nominee, Adam Laxalt, has taken a hard-line stance against DREAMers and illegal immigration — despite his late father, Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, once saying Laxalt's grandmother was undocumented.
Why it matters: Republicans are making illegal immigration a crucial issue in the midterm elections, and Laxalt is seizing on this in Nevada, where more immigrants have been moving to work in the casino and hotel industries.
- But family histories are complicated and can disclose uncomfortable truths that conflict with today's politics.
Details: Domenici in a 2006 Senate floor speech shocked colleagues when he revealed federal immigration authorities once detained his Italian-born mother, "who unknowingly was an illegal alien."
- Domenici said she came to the U.S. when she was 3 years old and lived in New Mexico. He said he was a child when authorities took her away in a black car in the early 1940s.
- He didn't say why she had been deemed an "illegal alien." Many Italian immigrants weren't considered as such if they entered the U.S. before 1920, when the federal government introduced quotas.
- "They decided she had to be arrested because she was an illegal alien. So, sure enough, they came to do that and a neighbor had to come over to take care of us kids. I was about 9 or 10. I was pretty frightened," he said during his speech, delivered during debate over an immigration bill.
Laxalt has long been peddling the great replacement theory:
In audio reviewed by the Current of a campaign meet-and-greet in Elko on Oct. 2, 2021, Laxalt can be heard suggesting immigrants are a part of a strategy by “the left” to destroy American values.
“It’s scary scary stuff — 200,000 people pouring over the border every single month,” he said. “Is the media covering this wall to wall? Of course not. Because this is what the left wants. The left wants to radically transform this nation and they want to destroy the values that made this country a great nation. Our constitutional system, our families, our church communities, the conservative fabric of this nation. They know they need to get rid of that so that they can transform our country.”
At a separate campaign event held on the same day in Winnemucca, Laxalt characterized Trump as “holding the line” against attacks from “the left” on “our constitutional system,” “the rule of law” and “the Judeo-Christian values. That made this one of the greatest nations on Earth.”
Elko and Winnemucca are both 86% white, according to 2022 Census data.
Months after making those comments at private campaign events, in March, a “Latinos for Laxalt” campaign would launch in Las Vegas with an event featuring a mariachi band, free tacos and a Trump advisor who last year characterized Afghan refugees as rapists and terrorists.
Latinos make up one-fifth of Nevada’s total eligible voters, and their turnout is seen as crucial, particularly for Cortez Masto, whose seat is seen as one of the most vulnerable in a U.S. Senate controlled by the narrowest margin possible.
The reality of those demographics seem to be at odds with an embracing of replacement theory, which routinely blames Latino immigrants for real and perceived problems in the United States.
And using this line of attack:
Last week, Republican Senate hopeful and former Attorney General Adam Laxalt tied his opponent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), directly to the Biden White House in a new TV ad accusing Democrats of “dismantling border security” and denying the existence of “open borders.”
That ad does not cite sources on those claims, though on his website, Laxalt has backed the completion of the Trump border wall and the reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy. His campaign did not respond to a request for more details on other policies he would support.
But Jeremy Hughes, a longtime Republican strategist in Nevada, told The Nevada Independent that the timing of a surge in migrants — alongside media attention generated by the push by some Republican governors to bus or fly migrants to Democrat-controlled “sanctuary” cities — has created another opportunity for the GOP to campaign on immigration, especially amid growing online interest in the issue.
There is no empirical evidence that immigration trends match with crime rates, and studies show undocumented immigrants are statistically less likely to commit crimes than citizens. However, the number of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have surged to record numbers in recent weeks, and increasingly large amounts of fentanyl have been seized by border authorities (though data shows much of those seizures come from legal border crossings and checkpoints).
And while Democrats in Nevada are working hard to mobilize Latino voters who may not be happy with the state of things because COVID and inflation have hit Nevada hard, it’s clear they don’t see Laxalt as a viable option:
A Sept. 19 fall election memo from Equis Research, a group that studies trends within the Latino electorate, supported Morales’ contention that Latinos unhappy with Democrats weren’t necessarily defecting to Republicans.
“Many Latino voters who in past elections have voted with Democrats are today persuadable — but Republicans have so far failed to win them over,” said the memo. It noted Democrats needed two-thirds of Latino voters to “fend off GOP challenges,” and Republicans needed one-third.
Of the Latinos who spoke to NBC News, more than half said they didn’t plan on voting, or weren’t aware of the upcoming election. Some couldn’t vote because they weren’t U.S. citizens.
Many had an overall positive reaction to “la senadora” — Cortez Masto — while admitting they knew little about her, even as her six-year term came to a close. They had few good things to say about President Joe Biden, citing high gas prices and poor job quality.
Among the common responses, however, was the negativity associated with Laxalt. Just the mention of the Laxalt’s name nearly universally elicited a wince, furious head shaking or a verbal outburst. That included men who said they had supported former President Donald Trump in 2020.
“No thank you! I’ve heard horrible things,” Viviana Rodriguez, a small business owner, said of Laxalt. She admitted, though, that she knew little about Cortez Masto, even as she exited an event promoting the state’s senior senator.
One of the factors likely contributing to negative sentiment was on display at a local laundromat in a Latino neighborhood here. On Spanish-language TV, ads pummeling Laxalt are on an aggressive rotation, a result of millions of dollars in spending by Democrats that began months ago.
By the time Laxalt emerged from his Republican primary in June, Cortez Masto, as well as outside Democratic groups led by the Somos PAC, had spent $2.7 million on Spanish-language ads, compared with $176,000 by Republicans. Cortez Masto’s campaign aired its first ad on Spanish-speaking TV on March 15 with a biographical spot outlining her family’s ties to Mexico.
Turnout, especially amongst Hispanic and Latino voters, is going to be key here. Click here to get with Somos PAC’s efforts to mobilize Latino and Hispanic voters in Nevada.
Early voting begins on October 22nd. Click here to learn more about voting early.
Democracy and Health are on the ballot and we need to get ready to keep Nevada Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D. NV) and her fellow Nevada Democrats campaigns: