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Laxalt Says He Is A 'Can Do' Candidate

Nevada state Attorney General Adam Laxalt speaks at a campaign event Monday, June 11, 2018, in Las Vegas. Laxalt is running as a Republican for governor of Nevada.
(AP Photo/John Locher)

Nevada state Attorney General Adam Laxalt speaks at a campaign event Monday, June 11, 2018, in Las Vegas. Laxalt is running as a Republican for governor of Nevada.

Voters in Nevada made their selections for the General Election on Tuesday.

In the race for governor, County Commissioner Steve Sisolak was chosen by the Democrats and state Attorney General Adam Laxalt was selected by the Republicans.

Laxalt told State of Nevada no other candidate has reached out to more individual voters than he has, and he plans to continue to do that for the general election.

"What we saw [Tuesday] night was an electorate that knows how much I accomplished as attorney general, and they're excited to help get me over the hump for this governor race," he said.

He said he is a person who can work across the aisle to solve problems, and that's what he plans to do if elected governor.

The attorney general pointed to his efforts to fix the backlog of rape kits, establish a pro-bono legal aid program for the state's veterans and a push to stop the opioid crisis as examples of working with people from the other party to solve problems.

Laxalt said he talked to many Democrats who said they felt Sisolak, and his opponent in the primary, Chris Giunchigliani, had moved too far to the left and as a result, they planned on voting for him.

"The fact that Steve Sisolak is the most liberal candidate that has ever run for governor in this state -- I think is going to help a lot," he said.

One issue likely to take center stage during the general election is education, and how to pay for it. 

Laxalt has long been opposed to the commerce tax, which passed in 2015 to help pay for education. However, he said it is unlikely the tax will be repealed.

He said he plans on using the extra revenue the state is getting from its booming economy to pay for education improvements.

"I certainly plan on pledging those increased revenues -- any increased revenues we have," he said. "Education will be my top priority. I want to make sure we find ways to get more money into the classroom -- to teachers and for school safety."

As far as school safety, Laxalt said he convened a panel of law enforcement officials following the shooting in Parkland, Florida to talk about ways to improve student safety.

One area he said he was looking into is whether there are any holes in the state's gun background check system.

Laxalt has been heavily criticized for his role in a background check ballot initiative passed by voters in 2016, but that so far has not been implemented. The attorney general defended his response.

"My role in this was simply to give a legal opinion to the Department of Public Safety," he said. "That is who does background checks in our state now […] but we were asked, 'What do you do with a ballot initiative when you have the FBI that won't support [it]?' We gave the opinion, 'If the FBI won't support, it is hard to see how this thing will go forward.'"

Laxalt said the issue has been used as a "political battering ram" against him, and the accusation he is somehow blocking the initiative is false.

 

Adam Laxalt, Republican candidate for governor & current Nevada attorney general

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Joe Schoenmann joined Nevada Public Radio in 2014. He works with a talented team of producers at State of Nevada who explore the casino industry, sports, politics, public health and everything in between.
Casey Morell is the coordinating producer of Nevada Public Radio's flagship broadcast State of Nevada and one of the station's midday newscast announcers. (He's also been interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, whatever that's worth.)