Bill Clinton stumps in Vegas, Henderson in support of Cortez Masto

Former President Bill Clinton was in southern Nevada on Sunday in an effort to inflate U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s chances at the polls on Tuesday as her neck-and-neck battle with Adam Laxalt came down to its final hours.

Inflation was on the former president’s mind as he urged the Democratic faithful at rallies in Las Vegas and Henderson to reject what he said was the Republican effort to exploit Americans’ anger over rising costs — a worldwide problem that Clinton argued has little to do with Cortez Masto or the other Democrats currently in office.

“In any normal time she’d just be running away with this election because she’s done such a good job, but we’re all supposed to be mad and we’re all supposed to stop thinking because inflation is too high,” the 42nd president said in a rally for Cortez Masto at the outdoor Gospel Brunch at DW Bistro in southwest Las Vegas. The two also spoke to the congregation at the Second Baptist Church, at 500 Madison Avenue, earlier in the day.

In stump speeches that mixed his well-established brand of affable storytelling, plain-spoken policy explanations, and crowd-pleasing swipes at political opponents, Clinton repeatedly called out Republicans and Laxalt for trying to pin rising costs on Democrats and the Biden administration.

Clinton blamed other geopolitical factors. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused fuel prices to spike and China’s COVID-19 shutdowns have disrupted worldwide supply chains, he said.

“They basically want you to be mad and frustrated. They want you to be ‘right now,’” Clinton said. “It was just two years ago, as you just heard (Cortez Masto) say, that Nevada’s unemployment rate was right at 30%. It’s 4.4% today. “

But he also lent some of his political combat skills to the campaign of Cortez Masto’s, who is known for avoiding the kind of partisan scrapping that Clinton relishes.

According to the latest polls, the incumbent Cortez Masto, who succeeded the late, longtime Nevada Democratic Senator Harry Reid, is in a statistical tie with Laxalt, whose grandfather Paul Laxalt was Nevada’s U.S. Senator before Reid.

Cortez Masto on Sunday urged all Nevadans to get out and vote on Tuesday, whether they be Democratic, Republican, independent or otherwise. The first Latina U.S. Senator spoke about lowering prescription drug costs, capping insulin costs, lowering families’ energy bills, committing to infrastructure renewal to create jobs, investing in broadband internet service, and returning manufacturing to the U.S.

“I will stand with anybody who wants to fight for Nevada, stand with Nevada, at anytime,” Cortex Masto said. “That’s why I work across the aisle all the time to make sure we are bringing and doing what we need to do here in Nevada.”

After her speech, Cortez Masto told reporters she felt there is a lot of energy going into Election Day.

“So we need to make sure everybody exercises the right on Tuesday,” she said.

Clinton, in his third appearance of the day with Cortez Masto at the Nevada State AFL-CIO union office in Henderson, kept up with jibes against the Republicans. The GOP will try to take credit for the fruits of Cortez Masto’s labor, but then make things worse, and then blame Dems again, the former president said.

“You gotta give it to them. They are good at branding,” Clinton said, to laughs. “Up (is) down, and two and two is six. And Lord only knows they’re good at it. But it’s a load of bull.”

Afterward, Clinton mingled with the crowd. Andrea Dudley, 45, a United Domestic Workers of America union board member in California, managed to get a selfie with Clinton.

“I think he’s getting us motivated to stay on the right track, by coming out and giving us that pep talk,” Dudley said. “We’ve been out here knocking these doors since September and it’s been a labor of love. Very intense because the race is so close and we want to make sure we stay on the right track.”

Marino Montenegro, Jr., 34, posed for a picture with Cortez Masto. He said he and other Cortez Masto supporters will be working to get the vote out right up until Election Day.

“We gotta remain hopeful,” Montenegro said. “And my whole thing is, the work still doesn’t stop. There’s still more phonecalls to be made, there’s still more canvassing to be done, more people to talk to, more people to reach.”

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com or 561-324-6421. Follow @BrettClarkson_ on Twitter.