Adam Laxalt

Laxalt was born in Reno, Nevada, the son of Pete Domenici, a Republican U.S. Senator from New Mexico, and Michelle Laxalt. He is the grandson of former Republican Nevada Governor and U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt. Laxalt's mother raised him as a single parent. Laxalt's paternity was not publicly acknowledged by his parents until 2013.[3][4] At that time, Domenici acknowledged that Laxalt was his son and was born as a result of an extramarital affair.[4]

After graduating from St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School, a college preparatory school in Alexandria, Virginia, he enrolled at Tulane University. After attending Tulane for two years, where he admitted to having drinking problems, he transferred to Georgetown University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[5] He then graduated from Georgetown University Law Center with a Juris Doctor degree in 2005.[6]

Laxalt first worked for then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John R. Bolton, before joining the office of Virginia U.S. Senator John Warner.[10] After leaving Washington, Laxalt worked for the law firm Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie at its Reno office until 2014, when he left the firm to concentrate on his bid for Attorney General.[11] He opposed the full repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" in 2010.[12]

Laxalt served in the United States Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps from July 2005 to August 2010.[13] His assignments included instructing law courses at the United States Naval Academy,[14] and he volunteered for a posting to Camp Victory, Iraq during the Iraq War.[15] He attained the rank of lieutenant, and his awards included the Iraq Campaign Medal and Joint Service Commendation Medal.[15]

After practicing with Lewis Roca Rothgerber, Laxalt considered a campaign for Nevada Attorney General.[16] In January 2014, he announced his candidacy.[17] Laxalt was the Republican nominee in the general election, and overcame issues including negative performance evaluations from his law firm which were leaked to the press.[18] Despite his family’s roots in the state and his grandfather Paul Laxalt’s time as governor and later U.S. senator from Nevada, opponents claimed he was a carpetbagger too new to Nevada to be considered for statewide office.[19] In the general election, he defeated Democratic nominee Ross Miller and minor-party candidate Jonathan Hansen.[20]

Laxalt was sworn in as the 33rd Attorney General of Nevada on January 5, 2015. His inauguration made him the youngest Attorney General in the United States at the time of his election.[21]

Laxalt created the Office of Military Legal Assistance,[22] a program that provides Nevada's military members with pro-bono legal representation, and the Federalism Unit that challenges federal regulations including the Environmental Protection Agency's Waters of the United States Rule and the Bureau of Land Management's Sage Grouse Plan.[23]

In 2017, Laxalt spoke at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum in Atlanta, Georgia. In his speech, Laxalt criticized a bill passed by the Nevada Senate, comparing the bill to the film Minority Report, saying the bill was based in “a concept called pre-crime” and would allow the government to “take your second amendment rights based merely on suspicion or threat.”[24] In 2018, months after the NRA published a video calling greater adoption of these laws,[25] Laxalt recommended that the legislature consider such a law in 2018, though he would not comment on if such laws were constitutional.[26] Laxalt was slated to speak at the NRA's 2018 annual conference until his photo was mysteriously removed from the event website, days after the Parkland shooting, raising questions about what happened and whether he still planned to attend.[27]

As attorney general, Laxalt signed Nevada onto at least four known lawsuits supporting abortion restrictions or pro-life entities in other states.[28] Laxalt signed onto two lawsuits supporting bans on the most commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure.[28] Republican pro-choice Governor Brian Sandoval's office said it was not consulted before Laxalt signed Nevada onto the Texas abortion ban brief. In the Supreme Court case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, Laxalt signed an amicus brief[29] in support of a Texas TRAP law that imposed medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion clinics in order to curb the availability of abortion providers.[30] The Supreme Court found the restrictions were an unconstitutional violation of the prohibition on placing an “undue burden” on the right to obtain an abortion.[31]

Laxalt signed onto a California lawsuit to support keeping secret the identities of the donors to one of his biggest political backers, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, backed by the GOP megadonors Charles and David Koch.[32] Laxalt opposed a multi-state investigation into ExxonMobil's alleged role in downplaying climate change, condemning it as an attempt to stifle an “ongoing public policy debate” over human-caused global warming. Laxalt took legal action to keep fraud investigators from scrutinizing groups connected to the Koch network, which went on to spend $2.5 million to support Laxalt's governor campaign.[33]

Laxalt was the Republican nominee for Governor of Nevada in the 2018 election, defeating four other candidates to win the nomination.[34] Laxalt lost to Democratic nominee and chair of the Clark County Commission Steve Sisolak in the general election; Sisolak become the first Democrat to win the governorship in 20 years. While Laxalt won 15 of Nevada's county-level jurisdictions (14 counties and the independent city of Carson City), he lost the two largest, Clark (home to Las Vegas) and Washoe (home to Reno). He lost Clark by over 86,000 votes, double his statewide margin of 39,700 votes.

Asked if there were any gun violence prevention measures Nevada needs to implement to prevent another October 1st tragedy, Laxalt responded “You know, I think it's important to slow down on this October 1.”[35] Laxalt was asked what he would do if elected to put in place the initiative voters passed to enact universal background checks and responded “I wouldn't change anything as governor.”[35]

Asked if he would propose a referendum to put Nevada's abortion law up for a vote, Laxalt responded “We are going to look into it.”[36]

Laxalt was endorsed by President Donald Trump.[37] Incumbent Republican Governor Brian Sandoval did not endorse a candidate in the election to succeed him, saying he would not "support a candidate that is going to undo anything that I put forward."[38] During Sandoval's tenure as Governor, he and Laxalt had disputed over tax policy, environmental regulations and gambling regulations.[38]

U.S. Senator Dean Heller, Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison, State Treasurer and 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary candidate Dan Schwartz, former Reno mayor Bob Cashell and Sparks mayor Geno Martini endorsed Laxalt.

Laxalt was endorsed by Storey County Sheriff Gerald Antinoro in November 2017 after he announced his candidacy.[39] Laxalt faced scrutiny for declining to disavow Antinoro's campaign support.[40] Antinoro was accused of rape in 2014.[41] A 2016 independent investigation found that Antinoro sexually harassed his top deputy.[39] Storey County Administrator Austin Osborne said in a deposition that “numerous…more than 10” complaints including sexual harassment allegations were filed against Antinoro.[42] After the sexual harassment investigation, Antinoro faced a recall election.[43] In April 2018, Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center called on Laxalt to rescind the endorsement and to investigate multiple allegations of sexual harassment against Antinoro.[39] In May 2018, Laxalt dismissed criticism of his refusal to reject the endorsement or denounce Antinoro as “political theatrics.”[44] Laxalt was scheduled to campaign with Antinoro at the end of May 2018 but Antinoro announced he would not attend after the event was picked up in media.[45] In July 2018, Laxalt released the long-awaited investigative report into Antinoro and announced that he would not pursue criminal charges.[46] The investigation was criticized for not interviewing Antinoro, alleged co-perpetrators or multiple rape victims.[47] After the investigation concluded, Laxalt announced he would no longer campaign with Antinoro or use his endorsement.[48] An October 2018 letter showed that the Attorney's General office met with former deputy sheriff Melanie Keener in early 2016, at which time the deputy shared details of Antinoro's history of sexually harassing employees.[49]

Laxalt was co-chairman of Trump's 2020 unsuccessful campaign in Nevada.[50] Laxalt unsuccessfully sought to stop Nevada from counting early-voting ballots prior to election day.[50]

Laxalt argued that large scale fraud occurred in Nevada during the 2020 presidential election. He presented a list of three thousand voters who were not located in Nevada, but voted there, as evidence for his claim. However, voters in Nevada do not necessarily have to live there in order to be eligible voters; this may include military personnel, students and congressional staffers.[51] One of the families who Laxalt listed in his purported evidence of fraud was a military family which was temporarily located in California where a major in the Air Force was pursuing a PhD in aerospace engineering and was being paid to do so by the Air Force.[52]

• Nevada Attorney General official government site
• Adam Laxalt for Governor official campaign site
• Adam Laxalt at Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN