GOP group ups ad buy in Nevada AG’s race

The Republican Attorneys General Association has pumped another $500,000 into its TV ad buy in Nevada — for a total of nearly $2.5 million — to help Adam Laxalt defeat Democrat Ross Miller in the attorney general’s race as a new internal poll shows the contest in a dead heat, a GOP official said Thursday.

The telephone survey, conducted Oct. 13-15 by The Tarrance Group for the GOP association, showed Miller with 40 percent support from likely registered voters in Nevada and Laxalt with 39 percent support.

Some 9 percent said they would vote for the Independent American Party candidate, Jonathan Hansen, according to a polling memo. Another 1 percent picked “none of the candidates” and 10 percent were undecided. The survey interviewed 508 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

The attorney general’s race has become a close contest partly because of record-breaking outside spending during the final weeks before the Nov. 4 general election and with early voting underway.

The Democratic Attorneys General Association is spending at least $1 million on ads criticizing Laxalt.

The candidates, too, are burning through a lot of cash. Miller has raised more than $2 million for his campaign and Laxalt has raised $1.3 million. The Nevada Democratic Party also has spent about $700,000 to help Miller.

The Republican AG attack ad criticizes Miller for taking more than $75,000 in gifts while serving as secretary of state during the past eight years, including free fight tickets and for entertainment. Miller has said most of the gifts were for educational forums, however, and that the total is so high because he’s more transparent in his reports than other officials.

The GOP group’s ads are running on both cable and broadcast stations in the Las Vegas and Reno markets.

The Democratic AG ad highlights notes from a scathing job performance review Laxalt got from a law firm, calling him “a train wreck” as a lawyer. The firm, Lewis Roca Rothgerber, has said the leaked job review notes don’t reflect the company’s high opinion of Laxalt who the firm said is “a capable and talented attorney.”

The Tarrance Group poll showed that Laxalt is running strong in GOP-leaning rural Nevada, picking up 55 percent of the vote, according to a memo written by pollster Dave Sackett. Laxalt also has a 2 point lead over Miller in Washoe County.

In Clark County, a populous Democratic stronghold, Miller has an 8 point lead over Laxalt, pulling in 43 percent of the vote. Another 11 percent is undecided.

The pollster said Republicans surveyed were showing more party loyalty than Democrats with 77 percent of GOP voters backing Laxalt compared to 69 percent of Democrats supporting Miller.

Laxalt also has an advantage with nonpartisan voters, with 35 percent support from independents compared to 30 percent for Miller.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.