Obama likens Nevada GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt to ‘crazy uncle’

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Former President Barack Obama likened Nevada Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt to a family’s "crazy uncle" during a campaign speech boosting incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Mr Obama was on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections to rally support for the Democrat when he noted that more than dozen of Mr Laxalt’s family members publicly stated they would back his opponent.

"You don’t have to take my word for it — a few weeks ago, 14 members of Adam Laxalt’s family announced they were supporting Catherine Cortez Masto," he said.

That’s when Mr Obama likened Mr Laxalt to a "crazy uncle."

"Think about that. Now, let me say this: you know, we all might have a crazy uncle, you know, that kind of goes off the rails. But if you’ve got a full Thanksgiving dinner table and they’re saying you don’t belong in the US Senate," he said. "When the people who know you best think your opponent would do a better job that says something about you."

Despite the former president’s warnings, Mr Laxalt and Ms Cortez Masto are running a close race, with a pair of polls showing Mr Laxalt ahead by five percentage points and another showing Ms Cortez ahead by one percentage point.

Mr Obama was not exaggerating when he discussed Mr Laxalt’s family; on Wednesday, 14 members of his family announced their support for Ms Cortez Masto.

The Nevada Independent obtained a three page letter from the family — which does not mention Mr Laxalt’s name or campaign — boosting the incumbent Democrat.

The letter praises the Democrat’s positions on women’s issues, opposition to a proposed federal mining tax, focus on land preservation, and her experience as the state’s attorney general between 2007 and 2015.

“We believe that Catherine possesses a set of qualities that clearly speak of what we like to call ‘Nevada grit,’” the letter said, adding that “no further comments will be made, as we believe this letter speaks for itself.”

This is actually the second time Mr Laxalt’s family has refused to back him. In 2018, when Mr Laxalt was running for governor, 12 members of his family publicly opposed him in a letter to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

They claimed that his campaign "leveraged and exploited the family name."

Mr Laxalt’s grandfather was Paul Laxalt, a former senator and governor of Nevada who was one of the state’s most prominent Republican politicians.

However, another 22 family members came out in support of Mr Laxalt after the letter in 2018.

Mr Laxalt responded to his family’s most recent letter in a Twitter post.

"It’s not surprising that once again a handful of family members and spouses, half of whom do not live in Nevada, and most of whom are Democrats, are supporting a Democrat," he wrote.