Aspirant Republican Senators Sam Brown and Adam Laxalt had it out on Monday concerning the latter’s performance as chairman on former-president Donald Trump’s campaign in 2020 in Nevada. The main topic was whether he did sufficiently well in combating voter fraud during the time when he served as attorney general.
There were few philosophical differences which emerged between Brown and Laxalt in the course of the hour-long debate, which was taped to be broadcast this week. It is set to air on “Nevada Newsmakers”, while Brown and Laxalt both seek the GOP nomination in order to face Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, come November.
There was a point when Brown voiced off against outlawing same-sex marriages, which is something Laxalt has stood for in the past.
The sharp exchanges between the two politicians followed Laxalt touting his record near the final minutes as the attorney general of Nevada from 2015 to 2019, as well as his endorsements from Trump, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, and others.
Brown then started the offensive, saying “Mr. Laxalt relies on endorsements because Nevadans can’t rely on him,” and cited “election integrity” as one example of “where he failed us.”
In response, Laxalt called the claim “pretty comical,” adding that when he served as the Nevada campaign chairman for Trump, he “sounded every alarm imaginable as the Democrats radically altered our election.”
“Unfortunately, they gave us a system that created the opportunity for fraud and made voters feel like we got a much less safe system,” he declared. He also said it was the secretary of state – and not the attorney general – who is responsible for checking voter fraud in the state.
According to Brown, when Laxalt was attorney general, he had the knowledge that “non-citizens” registered for voting, and subsequently voted in the Nevada elections. “When President Trump, Nevadans and Americans were relying on you to be the one to challenge any sort of issues in the 2020 election, the only thing you did was file a lawsuit, that by your own admission was late,” he said, adding, “Nevadans deserve better and you need to be honest about your record.”
Laxalt then derided Brown’s move to Nevada after having lost in a state legislative primary back in Texas in the year 2014. “Sam, you need to be honest with the voters,” he said. “You were running in Texas and living in Texas when you were accusing me of not doing these things I never had power to do.”
According to Laxalt, Trump’s endorsement is his “because he knows I did the best I possibly could standing up for our election.” He added that Democratic-controlled Legislature altered the rules when it came to voter registration, and that “unfortunately, there was nothing much we could do about that.”
Laxalt depicted himself as “co-chair of the campaign” who was “not in charge of litigation…the Trump campaign — they hired lawyers, they filed the lawsuits,” he said.
Brown then countered, asking, “As the chairman of the Trump campaign, at what point do you accept responsibility for the lack of lawyers performing or the failure of lawsuits to be filed on time?”Laxalt held that it was a wholly national effort which the Republican National Committee coordinated. “They got caught flat-footed, and we simply did not get the resources that we needed here,” he said.
Brown said this showed lack of leadership, and that this underscored Laxalt’s refusal to be held accountable for his actions. “Nevadans deserve better. We are not going to settle for people who blame everyone else when they fail,” he said.
Both Laxalt and Brown are veterans of the U.S. military. The former is the grandson of late U.S. Sen. And Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt, and served in Iraq. Brown’s service was in Afghanistan, where his face got badly burnt because of an explosion.
The aspirant senators agreed on one thing though: the current administration’s handling of the Ukraine invasion by Russia is not right, according to them. They also said they wouldn’t send U.S. troops to Ukraine. Also, concerning social issues, both have self-identified as “pro-life”.
Moderator Sam Shad raised a question as to whether they considered the recent leak of the draft of Supreme Court opinion – which suggests the justices may overturn abortion rights – capable of of eventually bringing same-sex marriages to an end.
Laxalt opined that this was hypothetical, and something the Democrats were using to create a divided America. He did not, however, say whether or not he’d support the move.
Brown answered that he didn’t think there existed a chance this would happen, but said the, “broader question is why is the government in the business of marriage to begin with. I think this is what Americans are tired of: A government that wants to get further and further involved in people’s lives,” he said.
