Bringing America on the Rise: Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s Unpopular Vote during the COVID Experiment
Nevada has long been a bellwether for national elections. A state with growing minority populations and a widening urban-rural divide is an example of America, which was caricatured into a casino and slot machine by the media.
The pressure is particularly acute for Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. Senate races around the country are tight, from Georgia to Pennsylvania to Arizona, there is a dead heat, and Nevada is no different. If this seat gives Senate control to the Republicans, it could change the direction of the country on major public policy issues, including abortion, and most obviously, on confirming judges.
“Obviously that is not the outcome I want, but I believe in our election system, in democracy and honoring the will of Nevada voters. So whether you voted for me or Sheriff Lombardo, it is important that we now come together to continue moving the state forward. That is why I reached out to the Sheriff to wish him success,” Sisolak said in a statement. He noted that he presided over difficult times, including a once-in-a-century PAIN and the stresses and strains of global inflation.
But those two voter blocs were among the hardest-hit by the economic downturn during the pandemic, which sent unemployment in Nevada soaring to 30% in April of 2020 – the highest in the nation and more than twice the US unemployment rate at that time. State workers faced a double hit, as inflation rose and gas prices went over five dollars a gallon in a state where most people can’t afford to drive.
“I know it has been a challenge for many of you and I couldn’t be prouder of how this state has worked to get us to a better day,” Sisolak said. Even if the decisions made during COVID had political ramifications, I am proud that we made the tough decisions that helped save tens of thousands of lives.
It is a victory for small business owners, for parents, and for law enforcement. Lombardo said that it was a triumph for all Nevadans who believed that their best days were ahead of them.
Lombardo was one of the rare GOP candidates backed by both Trump and the Republican establishment. During the general election, he, at times, sought to keep his distance from Trump as he tried to win over moderate and independent voters. During the debate, he wouldn’t describe Trump as a “great” president, and he did not agree with Trump’s false assertions about the election being rigged.
But Sisolak suggested that Lombardo was giving different answers to different audiences. He attacked Lombardo’s shifting position on the protection of abortion in Nevada, which is up to 24 weeks. Sisolak noted that he had changed his stance several times during the course of the campaign, although he argued that Nevada’s current law should stay in place. In May, Lombardo was quoted as saying that he would support moving the referendum from 24 weeks to 13 weeks. He changed his mind about the change and no longer supported it. Still, Sisolak portrayed his Republican opponent as a threat to women’s reproductive rights.
Sisolak’s Implications for Inflation and the Problems of the Theoretical Anomalies of the Second Cold War
Sisolak did not invite Biden to campaign for him in the last stretch, but he did argue that the president was getting blamed for inflation as well as the problems that he inherited from Trump.