A dozen relatives of a Republican running for governor in Nevada wrote an op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal on Monday opposing him.
Adam Laxalt, Nevada’s attorney general, is the wrong choice to lead the state, the group wrote.
{mosads}“The decision to write this column has not been an easy one for us,” their op-ed stated. “We are writing as members of the Laxalt family who have spent our lives in Nevada, and feel compelled to protect our family name from being leveraged and exploited by Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for governor.”
Laxalt is the grandson of Paul Laxalt, the former chairman of President Reagan’s presidential campaigns who went on to serve as a U.S. senator and governor of Nevada.
The op-ed was written by an aunt of Laxalt’s and several cousins.
In their letter, they predicted that if Laxalt responds, it will be to say that he “hardly knows the people writing this article.”
They said the fact that Laxalt grew up on the East Coast and not in Nevada prevented them from knowing him better.
Parker Briden, a spokesman for Laxalt, told the Post that the candidate “has a large family and some distant relatives are lifelong liberal activists, donors and operatives.”
But the Laxalts who signed on to the letter said their opinion piece was not about politics.
“We would be proud to have a Laxalt running for office on Nov. 6, regardless of whether they were Republican or Democrat or independent, so long as we believed that they would be good for Nevada,” they wrote. “We’re writing because we care about Nevada and because we know the truth about this candidate. We think that you should, too.”
Laxalt was born in Reno but left as a child and was raised in Washington, D.C. He returned to Nevada in 2013 and began a career in politics one year later.
The family members wrote that it’s “difficult to hear him continue to falsely claim that he was raised in Nevada or has any true connections to Nevadans.”
Laxalt coasted through the Republican primary in June and is facing off against Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak (D) to replace outgoing Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) who is not eligible for reelection because of term limits.
President Trump endorsed Laxalt over the summer.
An Emerson College poll released earlier this month found that Laxalt led Sisolak 46 percent to 41 percent, with 11 percent of likely voters surveyed still undecided.
The Hill has reached out to Laxalt’s campaign for a response.