Fact Checker Hits Cortez Masto With 'False' Rating Over Attack Ads Against Laxalt

Leah Barkoukis | October 13, 2022 8:00 AM

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) was called out by fact checkers for claiming in a campaign ad that her opponent, Republican Adam Laxalt, cheered the loss of Hispanic jobs and businesses.

In the ad, Laxalt says, “I think the good news is that now we’re a year, a lot of those jobs never came back, a lot of those Hispanic small businesses never reopened."

In Spanish, the add then tells viewers, “Adam Laxalt is not on our side.”

A description placed with the ad claims Laxalt called it “‘good news’ that Latino small businesses suffered during the pandemic because he thought it would benefit him politically. He is not fighting for Nevada, only for himself.”

PolitiFact gave her ad a “false” rating, however, because she completely took out the context surrounding his comments.

“The Laxalt clip came from the Jan. 28 edition of the ‘Steak for Breakfast Podcast,’ which included an exchange showing that what Laxalt was happy about was not the loss of jobs and businesses, but what he said was voters’ recognition that Democratic policies had caused the losses,” PolitiFact wrote.

Here's what Laxalt said:

"I think the good news is that now we’re a year, a lot of those jobs never came back, a lot of those Hispanic small businesses never reopened, and guess who is in charge? We have a Democrat governor, a Democrat House, a Democrat Assembly, a Democrat president, Democrat Senate, Democrat House of Representatives. And it’s 100% their fault. And so the media can’t cover for them. They’re going to try, we all know, but the media can’t do what it did in 2020 and basically blame the pandemic on Republicans. And so, we’re seeing an awakening here …
"But, here we are. And I think the good news is, while some of this is doom and gloom, I’m not happy it took so long for people to come around. But boy, are people coming around. People are really waking up to the, all of these hypocrites and all the different rules they play by, then they expect all of us to play by, and they know that it’s hurting our kids."