NVGOP candidates throughout the 2024 election cycle have produced ads that include falsehoods, misinformation, and bigotry.
Joe Lombardo’s Better Nevada PAC released ads hypocritically attacking Assemblymembers Elaine Marzola and Selene La Rue Hatch for taking a bipartisan vote to appropriate money for new government office spaces and additional staff members. However, a fact check found that Lombardo prioritized the legislation and called a special session for the funding because it was constitutionally required to pass. NVGOP Assembly candidate Brandon Davis made a racist and xenophobic website that claimed his Democratic opponent was a “terrorist sympathizer” because of her Muslim faith.
Read more NVGOP falsehoods below:
The Nevada Independent: Indy Elections: A fact-check bonanza
Key Points:
- Better Nevada PAC, a group tied to Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, has released two ads attacking vulnerable Assembly Democrats that accuse them of spending millions of dollars for new offices and additional staff members.
- The ads — targeting Assemblywoman Elaine Marzola (D-Las Vegas) and Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) — allege that they spent $127 million on new government offices in Las Vegas for themselves and other colleagues, as well as $30 million for an additional 117 staff members.
- The ads are referring to the Capital Improvement Program budget bill passed by lawmakers last year that allocated funds for more than $1.4 billion in state government infrastructure projects.
- The ad misleads voters by implying that Marzola and La Rue Hatch were responsible for the passage of the bill.
- In reality, Lombardo prioritized the legislation, which the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass. He called a special session to pass the budget bill after it became a bargaining chip used as leverage in unrelated disputes and failed to garner enough support in the regular session.
- Ultimately, four Republican legislators supported the bill, including Assembly Minority Leader P.K. O’Neill (R-Carson City). In fact, if La Rue Hatch and Marzola had opposed the bill, it still would have passed.
- Plus, it was Lombardo who originally called for more funding for Las Vegas office space, eyeing $350 million to construct two new state government buildings.
The Nevada Independent: Website linking Assembly candidate to Taliban supporters called Islamophobic
Key Points:
- A website launched last month by Republican Assembly candidate Brandon Davis alleges his Democratic opponent, Hanadi Nadeem, a practicing Muslim, supports and admires Taliban sympathizers — a message critics have decried as Islamophobic and xenophobic.
- “This type of rhetoric, what he is doing, is really putting my life and my family and particularly the Muslim community in danger,” Nadeem said in an interview with The Nevada Independent. “This is showing intolerance … He’s just grabbing stories from one side to another side and just trying to make the connection, but there’s no connection.”
- The criticism comes as Nevada has experienced a 75 percent rise in hate crimes compared to 2023, with more than 75 percent of the hate crimes focused on race or ethnicity and nearly 9 percent centered on religious bias.
- A campaign spokesperson for Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who endorsed Davis in the race, did not respond to a request for comment about the website.
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Nicholas Simões Machado released the following statement on NVGOP candidates’ false and misleading ads:
“In an election season where the Republican Party has built a platform of misinformation, xenophobia, and election denial, it is no surprise to see the NVGOP running ads that do the same because they can’t run on real issues that matter most to working families.”
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In-person early voting in Nevada is ongoing and runs through November 1st. Nevadans can register and vote at any polling location in their county. Election Day is November 5th. For more information visit: https://nvdems.com/party/2024-voting-resources/
