The first Latina elected to the Senate, Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), hopes to face a large number of negative ads about her in Spanish on TV, radio and other media in Nevada. To that end, a party group is preparing to spend nearly $2 million to support its Republican opponent in the midterm elections, a considerable investment in the group of voters expected to be the most influential in this context.

In spending plans shared for the first time with NBC News “the conservative super PAC Club for Growth Action said it will paint Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as soft on crime while boosting Republican Adam Laxalt in what has become one of the tightest Senate races in the country”.

“When reached for comment, Cortez Masto’s campaign highlighted an endorsement from the Nevada Police Union and provided a statement from the senator. ‘Both as Nevada’s attorney general and in the Senate, I have worked with law enforcement to ensure our officers have the resources they need to keep our communities safe’, Cortez Masto said in a statement”.

By the time Laxalt won the GOP primary, Cortez Masto and outside Democratic groups led by the Somos PAC had already spent $2.7 million on Spanish-language ads, compared to $176,000 spent by Republicans, according to another NBC News.

Since then, ​​Democrats have outpaced Republicans by spending $4.6 million, or about 12% of their total ad expenditures, on Spanish-language ads, compared to $1 million, or 3% of overall spending on the GOP side, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.

According to a spokesman for the group, “Club for Growth Action expects to spend $10 million in Nevada in the general election — including the Spanish-language ads — more than it has spent in any other battleground state”. [...] “Latinos are expected to make up 20% of voters in the midterms”, according to the publication.

Club for Growth Action said the spending is the “single largest investment in Hispanic media in the race by any Republican group”.

David McIntosh, Club for Growth Action’s president, said in a statement published by NBC: “Nevada has the most important Senate race in the country. While Democrats have long taken the Hispanic vote for granted, it’s important to reach this audience and let them know where the candidates stand on the issues that matter like crime, inflation, and the economy”.