Newly released video footage shows Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), who is up for reelection in the midterm elections, getting booed during a parade that she participated in over the weekend.
Republicans are suggesting that this may be an ominous sign for Cortez Masto — a sign that she might be on her way out.
The video
The footage comes from the 84th annual Nevada Day parade that took place in Carson City, Nevada, on Saturday.
Cortez Masto participated in the parade, sitting atop a reelection campaign float. The video picks up just as Cortez Masto’s float is going by, and what the video show is that Cortez Masto didn’t get the warmest reception.
In fact, there is no cheering that takes place at all as Cortez Masto goes by, only booing. There’s booing, and people can be seen giving Cortez Masto a thumbs down. Some people, in fact, even give Cortez Masto a double thumbs down – that can’t be good.
WATCH: The crowd in Carson City booed Catherine @CortezMasto hard today.
It’s no surprise!
Nevadans don’t want a rubber stamp for Biden representing them in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/34gQt2ne2F
— Team Laxalt (@TeamLaxalt) October 29, 2022
Laxalt, on the other hand, is cheered
The video was posted to Twitter by the campaign team of Cortez Masto’s Republican opponent, Adam Laxalt. Laxalt is trying to take Cortez Masto’s Nevada-based U.S. Senate seat.
Laxalt also participated in the above parade. And, in addition to the above video, Laxalt posted another video showing the much warmer welcome that he received during the parade.
VS the support for @AdamLaxalt!
Let’s take this thing to the finish line & get it done on November 8! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5O1Obbjbhx
— Team Laxalt (@TeamLaxalt) October 29, 2022
Looking ahead
Laxalt and his campaign team are obviously using these videos to argue that Laxalt is more popular in Nevada than Cortez Masto and, therefore, is going to win.
The polls would suggest that the race between Cortez-Masto and Laxalt is a very close one. Real Clear Politics has Laxalt up, on average, by only 1.2 percentage points. With a slim margin, the race has to be considered a toss-up.
But, one thing that can be said with certainty is that Cortez Masto’s seat is vulnerable.