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In Case You Missed It, Nevada elected Republican officials are endorsing Senator Catherine Cortez Masto for re-election. As the Nevada Independent highlighted, Senator Cortez Masto’s “long history of backing the state mining and agricultural industries” led to support from across the aisle. Read more: Nevada Independent: A modern split ticket? As SCOTUS has swallowed media attention, Cortez Masto has also quietly cashed in on a long history of backing the state mining and agricultural industries in the form of two endorsements from rural Republicans. The first came from Ely Mayor Nathan Robertson, who wrote explicitly in his endorsement earlier this month that Cortez Masto “has earned our support in rural Nevada” by voting to block proposed taxes on the mining industry. The second, announced Wednesday, came from longtime Churchill County Commissioner Carl Erquiaga in an op-ed published in the Reno Gazette Journal. There, Erquiaga pointed directly to Cortez Masto’s opposition to a proposed measure backed by other Democrats that would have increased the federal tax burden on small farms. “She stood up for families like mine, and I won’t forget that,” Erquiaga wrote. How much political weight such endorsements could pull in under current electoral conditions remains unclear. Rural areas more generally have been reliable territory for the Trump-led Republican Party, even more so than in the pre-Trump era. But the endorsements emerge as something of a bulwark for Cortez Masto, who has for months been targeted by a national Republican operation intent on casting her as a “false moderate,” and a tool of the Democratic Party’s left wing, especially on the issue of federal limits on oil leases in rural Nevada. Reno Gazette Journal (opinion): As a Republican in rural Nevada, I’m supporting Sen. Cortez Masto As a lifelong Nevadan, I have seen lots of changes in our state, and right now we need elected officials we can trust. I’ve lived in Fallon my whole life and I’ve served as Churchill County commissioner — I know firsthand that politicians in Nevada don’t always get what’s important to us in rural communities. Our Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has shown repeatedly that she has our back, and that’s why I’m supporting her, even as a registered Republican. I come from a family of farmers. My grandfathers came to this country with a desire to farm and ranch. I watched my father carve our farm out of the Nevada desert, and working the land has always been a part of who I am, as it is for so many of my friends and neighbors. But sometimes politicians in Washington, D.C. don’t understand our families here in rural Nevada. Last year in the wake of the pandemic, President Biden and some Democrats in Congress proposed tax changes that would have unfairly burdened the more than 4,000 farms and ranches in Nevada. That’s when Sen. Cortez Masto showed us she has our back. She immediately said that proposal wouldn’t move forward with her support, leading the fight to protect our farmers and ranchers, stopping the unfair tax hike, and introducing legislation to specifically protect our smaller farming operations. She stood up for families like mine, and I won’t forget that. […] Some of my friends and family have asked me how a Republican can support a Democrat for Senate. And the answer is simple: Sen. Cortez Masto has proven she will deliver for us. From protecting our farms and ranches, to fighting to lower costs for our families, I know I can count on her to advocate for what matters to me. And although I am still proud to be a Republican, I’m going to support Catherine because I know she will always fight for me and my family. Reno Gazette Journal: GOP mayor of rural Nevada town endorses Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto over Adam Laxalt The Republican mayor of a small town in rural Nevada has endorsed incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto over her GOP opponent Adam Laxalt in one of the country’s premier Senate contests this year. “I am a Republican, but Catherine has earned our support in rural Nevada by blocking new taxes on our mining industry and supporting funding for local infrastructure needs,” Ely Mayor Nathan Robertson said Tuesday. “I know she will continue working hard in the Senate to champion issues important to all rural Nevadans.” Ely, a remote mountain town of about 4,000 people, is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County. Located about 320 miles east of Reno and roughly 250 miles north of Las Vegas, the town’s mining boom came in 1906 after the discovery of copper. |
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