Ad for senate candidate Masto addresses Governor’s controversial 2015 tax initiative.

Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto launched a new ad this week in Reno and Las Vegas that looks to play on the split among Republicans over Gov. Brian Sandoval’s controversial 2015 tax initiative.

The television ads feature Cortez Masto talking about her “bipartisan” support of the $1.5 billion package proposed by the Republican governor that was aimed at bolstering the state’s education funding. The ad contrasts that to her Republican opponent, Rep. Joe Heck, who opposed the issue when he claimed it could harm small businesses. Neither served the Legislature at the time.

Sandoval’s tax package created a chasm within the state’s GOP party as Republican lawmakers were split on the move. Democrats unanimously voted in favor of the initiative.

Responding to the ad, Heck’s campaign noted that Sandoval has endorsed Heck and added that any suggestion of Cortez Masto being bipartisan “cannot be taken seriously.”

“As the most partisan attorney general in Nevada history, Catherine Cortez Masto has an embarrassing record of putting her own partisan and political ambitions ahead of her job,” said Heck’s campaign manager, Brian Baluta.