Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, right, has supported efforts by former President Donald Trump, center, to delegitimize and overturn the results of the 2020 election.
AP Photo/John Locher
With the 2022 midterms fast approaching, control of the U.S. Senate may come down to the race in Nevada. Incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto is squaring off against Adam Laxalt, who chaired Donald Trump’s statewide campaign in 2020 and worked to overturn the results after the former president lost. Also in Laxalt’s corner: two of the richest men in the country, Pennsylvania investor Jeff Yass and Richard Uihlein, the founder of the Uline packaging products empire.
Both are big donors nationally. An outspoken advocate for school choice, Yass seeded a super PAC called School Freedom Fund with $15 million. That group in turn has spent more than $600,000 supporting Laxalt. Uihlein funneled $2.2 million to a different super PAC called Americas PAC, which has shelled out $845,000 to attack Cortez Masto. Both are also major contributors to Club for Growth Action, a group allied with School Freedom Fund that supports Republican candidates nationwide and has dropped over $1 million backing Laxalt.
Laxalt comes with some baggage. After serving as the state attorney general, he ran for governor in 2018 but lost by four points. He then took a statewide role helping Trump in Nevada. The former president lost the state by two points, but Laxalt denied the results and supported lawsuits seeking to reverse Joe Biden’s victory. The communications director of his Senate campaign reportedly attended the Jan. 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” protest in Washington, D.C.
Uihlein and Yass aren’t likely to be deterred by that, though. Both Americas PAC and the School Freedom Fund, which are funded almost exclusively by the two billionaires, have supported candidates who rejected the election results. In a statement, Club for Growth Action president David McIntosh wrote that School Freedom Fund makes decisions about which candidates to support based on their position on school choice, adding that both groups support politicians “on both sides of the election certification issue.”
“Not only is Adam Laxalt an incredibly strong candidate on free market economic issues, he is also a strong advocate for parents that want to take a more active role in their children’s education,” McIntosh said in a statement.
Even though Yass has donated to groups supporting election deniers, a spokesperson for the billionaire made it clear that he’s focused on other issues. “Jeff Yass is a self-described never-Trumper who has never questioned or denied the results of the 2020 election” the spokesperson said.
The Uihleins and Americas PAC did not respond to requests for comment.
Laxalt may have the big money, but Cortez Masto has a lot more small donors. At the end of June, her official campaign committee, which can only accept donations up to $2,900 per election, had $10 million on hand versus the $2 million sitting in Laxalt’s coffers. Cortez Masto is also receiving support from a dark money group called North Fund.