Laxalt uses the racist conspiracy theory to stoke fear among his base

In Case You Missed It, new reporting from the New York Times highlights how corrupt politician Adam Laxalt is pushing the “great replacement” theory on the campaign trail, stoking fear about immigration while simultaneously trying to garner support from the Latino community. Recently, the Nevada Current emphasized that Laxalt’s embrace of the “racist and anti-semitic conspiracy” “seem[s] to be at odds” with the demographics of Nevada voters. 

In May, the conspiracy Laxalt is pushing motivated the horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, NY, and Laxalt refused to condemn or comment on the violence. Laxalt has frequently promoted other extreme, far-right conspiracy theories, including Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election, and has touted QAnon supporters and right-wing extremists including Carolina Serrano and Jim Marchant. 

The New York Times: Pushing an Immigration Conspiracy Theory, While Courting Latinos

Jennifer Medina // 7.29.22

Key Points: 

• The idea has been linked to the massacre at a Buffalo supermarket in May, the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019 and the killings at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.
• Mr. Masters isn’t the only Republican Senate candidate who has played on voters’ fears about immigration. Adam Laxalt, a former Nevada attorney general who won the state’s Republican primary last month, has struck a similar theme, telling supporters at an event in rural Nevada last year that illegal immigration was part of a Democratic strategy.
• “It’s scary, scary stuff — 200,000 people pouring over the border every single month,” Mr. Laxalt said. “Is the media covering this wall to wall? Of course not. Because this is what the left wants. The left wants to radically transform this nation, and they want to destroy the values that made this country a great nation.”

###