Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Spent $3.5 Million in Support of Steve Sisolak and Aaron Ford; Across Nevada, Candidates Who Received Support from Everytown and Moms Demand Action Won
Two Years After Passing Background Check Initiative Backed by Everytown, Voters Rebuff NRA’s Candidates and Extreme Agenda in Nevada
CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and the Nevada chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America applauded the elections of Jacky Rosen, Steve Sisolak, Aaron Ford, Susie Lee, Steven Horsford and Yvanna Cancela, gun sense champions endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, for U.S. Senator, governor, attorney general, U.S. representatives and state senator respectively. In electing these gun sense champions, Nevadans made it clear they want leaders who will push for common-sense gun safety laws and that the politics of gun safety have changed.
Voters chose Sisolak over Adam Laxalt, who received an A+ rating from the NRA. Laxalt was an NRA favorite. He appeared in an NRA ad opposing Question 1, the background check initiative backed by Everytown that voters passed in 2016. As attorney general, he argued he could not enforce the new law, subverting the will of his state’s residents, 68 percent of whom want to see the background check law implemented. He also spoke at the 2017 NRA convention. Ford’s opponent, Wes Duncan, also received an endorsement and an A rating from the NRA.
This election cycle, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund actively supported gun sense candidates across Nevada who won their races, including spending $3.5 million in support of Sisolak and Ford. Everytown also supported Jacky Rosen for U.S. Senate and congressional candidates Susie Lee and Steven Horsford. Nearly $100,000 was spent on Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District race as part of Everytown’s $5-million “Not One More” campaign which focused on getting out the vote for gun safety in 16 critical U.S. congressional districts. Moms Demand Action volunteer Linda Cavazos also won her race for Clark County school board trustee.
“After Adam Laxalt spent the last two years fighting implementation of a voter-approved ballot initiative expanding background checks, the people of Nevada just went to the polls and sent him a message he couldn’t ignore: Goodbye,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “In electing Steve Sisolak and Aaron Ford, Nevada voters chose leaders who will buck the NRA and carry out the will of the people. These results are a fitting tribute to the victims of the Route 91 shooting, and a huge victory for all Nevadans.”
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“Moms Demand Action volunteers across the state of Nevada are elated to to celebrate the election of so many gun sense champions,” said Elizabeth Becker, a volunteer with the Nevada chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “We have been talking with our neighbors for months about these important races and cannot wait to see progress on gun violence prevention initiatives that have been stalled under our current leadership.”
“I know the unimaginable pain of losing a loved one to gun violence, and it is in honor of my son that I have given my time to helping to elect gun sense candidates up and down the ballot,” said Bert Heyman, a volunteer with the Nevada chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America whose 17-year-old-son, Chris, was killed with a gun in 2004. “Tonight voters sent a resounding message to the gun lobby: From the Silver State to the halls of Congress, we deserve to be represented by those who will fight to keep our communities safe. ”
Everytown’s electoral spending this year follows years of support for gun safety legislation in Nevada. In 2016, voters passed the Everytown-backed Question 1, the background check initiative, although Laxalt and outgoing Gov. Brian Sandoval have not implemented it. After last year’s mass shooting on Route 91 in Las Vegas, Everytown also released video footage recorded at a Nevada gun show in which a private investigator licensed in Nevada was able to purchase multiple firearms without background checks – including rifles similar to those recovered with the Mandalay Bay shooter. The footage, recorded six days after Las Vegas experienced the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, made clear that it remained easy to buy a gun without a background check in Nevada because the background check law passed by voters had not been enforced.