PARTY LINES: Another awkward Laxalt family reunion

Well, that’s got to be an awkward family reunion.

Fourteen members of the Laxalt family signed a letter this week, endorsing incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto over their relative, Republican Adam Laxalt.

It’s nothing new: In 2018, 12 members of the Laxalt family submitted an op-ed to the Reno Gazette-Journal denouncing Laxalt by name, saying he was exploiting the family name to get elected governor. (Paul Laxalt, Adam Laxalt’s grandfather, was a former Nevada governor and U.S. senator.)

But back then, another 22 members of the Laxalt family wrote an op-ed of their own, telling the Reno Gazette-Journal’s readers that they supported Adam Laxalt’s bid for governor, calling their kin’s attack on Laxalt “vicious and entirely baseless.”

Hope there wasn’t much overlap at that Thanksgiving dinner!

Unlike four years ago, however, this cycle’s letter did not attack Adam Laxalt, or even mention him by name. Instead, it highlighted Cortez Masto’s record and damned Adam Laxalt by comparison.

“We believe that Catherine possesses a set of qualities that clearly speaks to what we like to call ‘Nevada grit,’” the Laxalt family members wrote, citing her work to help homeowners during the foreclosure crisis, her support of police, her vote for a bill that allows Medicare to negotiate for some prescription drug prices, and opposing alleged price gouging by oil companies.

“She has always put Nevada first, even when it meant working against her own party’s policies,” the Laxalt letter reads. “She has skillfully defended key Nevada industries.”

The letter cites her defeat of a proposed tax on Nevada farms and ranches and her opposition to a federal mining tax.

“Catherine is a model of the ‘Nevada grit’ that we so often use to describe our Nevada forefathers,” the authors conclude. “Her entire career is not a simple ‘sound-bite’ that merely speaks of supporting Nevada. Rather, her entire career demonstrates years of bold actions that she has taken as an authentic advocate of Nevada.”

Those forefathers, of course, include the famous Paul Laxalt.

In response, Adam Laxalt took to Twitter to denounce his critical family members, saying most are Democrats.

“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,” Laxalt tweeted. “They think that Nevada & our country are heading in the right direction. I believe Nevadans don’t agree … with the Biden/Masto agenda of high gas prices, soaring inflation, rising crime and an open border. I look forward to representing Nevada in the U.S. Senate in January.”

The letter evokes another Cortez Masto endorsement, one that also didn’t mention Adam Laxalt but drew a sharp contract nonetheless, authored by former Nevada Assemblyman Pete Ernaut, now the president of government and public affairs at R&R Partners.

Governor in the middle seat?

Gov. Steve Sisolak has a new commercial up, one that aims to show he’s a regular guy, just like the rest of us, by touting his love for Southwest Airlines. It turns out that “Southwest Steve” likes those tiny little bags of salted snacks and the airline coffee in a paper cup. Who knew?

“Governor Sisolak has never used taxpayer dollars to fund private flights when traveling across Nevada nor has he used the state plane, opting instead to fly commercial,” reads a news release that accompanies the ad. “BONUS: The governor gets to meet and talk to Nevadans about the issues they care about most (from the window seat).”

We called the governor out on one part of the ad where he says he hates the middle seat (and who doesn’t, really?). But anybody who flies back and forth between Reno and Las Vegas as much as he does must be in the tier of customer who gets the coveted A1-A15 boarding passes. Sisolak confirmed he’s in that tier, but says he sometimes gets distracted talking to people in the boarding area and doesn’t always take advantage of his prized position.

Personally, if we ever get elected governor, we’ll take the state plane. Oh, and we’ll also make sure that state plane is a Gulfstream G650, painted in silver and blue with the state flag on the side. But that’s just us.

Could be worse

Speaking of Sisolak, he came in for an average grade when the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute rated the nation’s governors this week based on their fiscal policies. He didn’t do as well as Kim Reynolds of Iowa or Chris Sununu of New Hampshire (they both got A’s), but he fared better than California’s Gavin Newsom and Washington state’s Jay Inslee, who got F’s.

Instead, Sisolak was right in the middle of the pack with a C, faring only slightly worse than Florida’s Republican Ron DeSantis (who also earned a C) but better than South Dakota’s Kristi Noem and Texas’ Greg Abbott, both Republicans who also earned C’s.

One less Democrat in the world

Remember Tulsi Gabbard? C’mon, sure you do. She was the congresswoman from Hawaii, the former Army reserve officer who was the first Hindu elected to Congress? Remember, she ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat? She visited Las Vegas during her campaign!

OK, well, anyway, she announced that she’s leaving the Democratic Party in a long post on Substack, wherein she said the party is “now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by radicalizing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and, above all, are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”

Sounds like somebody is trying out for a gig at Fox. You can read her entire farewell letter on her Substack or listen on her eponymous podcast.

Election info, at your fingertips

Want to find out about candidates who are running for office this year? The Review-Journal’s 2022 general election voter guide is here for you. We have stories up on nearly every single contest on the ballot.

If you’re not sure who’s running in your area, you can find out when your sample ballot arrives in the mail, which should happen shortly. (The county confirmed Thursday that it was mailing them out.) Or you can check on Clark County’s website, where you can also update your voter registration and check out your voter history.

Election dates

Oct. 19: Deadline for Clark County to mail ballots to every active registered voter.

Oct. 22-Nov. 4: In-person early voting at vote centers around Clark County.

Nov. 8: Election Day! In-person voting at countywide voting centers. All mail-in ballots must be postmarked by this date and received by the county Nov. 12 in order to count.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.