Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt released his second general election political ad on Wednesday, hammering “desperate” incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) for releasing ads that are “deemed false, misleading, and full of defamatory claims that don’t add up by several news outlets.”
The ad, entitled “Gutter Politics,” will run on cable and broadcast across the Silver State. The spot focuses on how Cortez Masto’s recent mudslinging ads received false ratings from local outlets, including the Washington Post, which gave them seven “Pinocchio’s” combined.
The ad states:
Catherine Cortez-Masto is desperate — spending millions attacking Adam Laxalt’s family and childhood, and lying about his record. Pathetic. The Reno Gazette Journal fact-checker labeled Cortez-Masto’s ads false. The Washington Post called Cortez-Masto’s ads especially bad, misleading, and full of false claims that don’t add up.
“Gutter politics can’t hide Cortez-Masto’s record of failure,” the ad continues. “Nevada deserves results, not more lies.”
Laxalt’s ad is in direct reference to several of Cortez Masto’s commercials aired in August. The first, aired on August 2, accused Laxalt of protecting opioid manufacturers from lawsuits during his time as Nevada’s Attorney General. Another ad, aired on August 13, claims that Laxalt would not sue pharmaceutical companies that donated to his Attorney General campaign.
Both of those claims garnered seven “Pinocchios” total from the left-leaning Washington Post, calling both ads a “misfired attack.” The Post‘s Glenn Kessler wrote in his analysis:
The Cortez Masto campaign is straining mightily to connect dots in a sinister way. But they don’t add up. The first version of this ad was especially bad, falsely claiming that Laxalt refused to sue a particular company. The retooled version, focused on the dispute with the Reno mayor, falsely says he did not want to hold opioid manufacturers accountable.
In reality, Cortez Masto has raised millions from pharmaceutical companies. According to OpenSecrets, she received $217,695 from PACs and individuals in the Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry between 2017 and 2022. OpenSecrets also shows the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) received $2,342,852 from the Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry while Cortez Masto was its leader.
Just a few days earlier, the Reno Gazette Journal also gave Cortez Masto a false rating for claiming that Laxalt would support a national abortion ban.
“Laxalt declares himself “pro-life” and says he would support a new referendum to lower the gestational limit for abortions in Nevada from 24 weeks to 13 weeks. But as far as a national abortion ban, Laxalt has made it clear he opposes that and it’s false to claim otherwise,” the Journal’s Mark Robison wrote.
The second ad comes just a few days after Laxalt released his first ad, entitled “Good Man,” which acted as a rebuttal to another attack ad from Cortez Masto attempting to paint his upbringing as “charmed.”