On August 17, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt formally announced he will be running in 2022 for the U. S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, who served as Nevada attorney general from 2006 to 2014.
Laxalt graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University and from Georgetown University Law Center. He is a former naval officer and Iraq veteran who was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal. Laxalt served as Nevada’s 33rd attorney general from 2015 to 2019. Some of his major initiatives included addressing a backlog of 8,000 untested sexual assault evidence kits, securing the first human trafficking conviction in the history of the office, and creating a financial fraud division to address elder abuse and exploitation. Laxalt also created an Office for Military and Legal Assistance to serve as a pro bono resource for veterans and military families.
As attorney general, Laxalt also successfully opposed a number of Obama administration initiatives, including a proposed Department of Labor rule that would have doubled the minimum salary cutoff under which employers must pay overtime, and several federal environmental regulations.
In addition to his successful campaign for attorney general in 2014, Laxalt previously ran for governor in 2018, when he lost to Democrat Steve Sisolak. He joins a field that includes at least two other Republicans — retired Army veteran Sam Brown and business owner Sharelle Mendenhall.
Laxalt is the son of former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici and the grandson of former Nevada Governor and Senator Paul Laxalt. He and his wife Jaime live in Reno with their three children.