Press Release Nevada
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s Victory in Nevada’s U.S. Senate Race
For Immediate Release: Saturday, November 12, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s Victory in Nevada’s U.S. Senate Race
Defeat of anti-choice, anti-freedom Republican candidate Adam Laxalt is a win for Nevadans and reproductive freedom
Carson City, Nevada — Today, Nevada voters reelected NARAL-endorsed Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) to the U.S. Senate. Sen. Cortez Masto’s victory over anti-choice, anti-freedom Republican candidate Adam Laxalt marks a huge win for reproductive freedom.
In response to Sen. Cortez Masto’s victory, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“NARAL Pro-Choice America and our 48,000 members in Nevada congratulate Senator Catherine Cortez Masto on her reelection and are grateful for her leadership as we fight back for reproductive freedom. If this race has made one thing clear, it’s that anti-choice extremists do not represent the values of the people of Nevada, who deserve a leader who will fight for their fundamental freedoms.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America Southwest Regional Director Caroline Mello Roberson said:
“During her time in the U.S. Senate, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has fought for reproductive freedom time and again. NARAL is thankful to have Sen. Cortez Masto with us in the fight for our fundamental rights. We look forward to continuing our work together to protect and expand reproductive freedom in the U.S. Senate.”
Sen. Cortez Masto has been a fierce leader in the fight for reproductive freedom, earning a 100% score in NARAL’s Congressional Record on Choice every year she has served in the U.S. Senate. She is committed to increasing access to abortion care and cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would lock the right to abortion into law throughout the United States by creating a right for healthcare providers to provide abortion care and a corresponding right for people to receive that care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions. In response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Sen. Cortez Masto introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022 to protect those who may need to cross state lines to receive abortion care, as well as to protect providers. Unfortunately, this bill was blocked by Senate Republicans.
She is also a cosponsor of the EACH Act, which would ensure that federal health plans and programs cover and provide access to abortion care by lifting existing coverage bans for those who receive their care or health insurance through the federal government, including those insured through Medicaid and Medicare, federal employees, Indigenous communities, pregnant people who are incarcerated or in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, service members, and people with low incomes in the District of Columbia. The bill would also prohibit the federal government from interfering with the private insurance market to prevent insurance companies from providing abortion coverage.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—ending the constitutional right to abortion and opening the door for extremist state lawmakers to put total bans on abortion in place. This decision is already having a devastating impact throughout the country as 15 states are enforcing extreme or total bans on abortion. The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.
NARAL endorsed Sen. Cortez Masto as part of its largest-ever midterm electoral program to elect candidates up and down the ballot during this critical moment in the fight for reproductive freedom. The program focuses on deep field investments in phone banking, door knocking, youth organizing, and canvassing, along with a robust communications campaign to support endorsed candidates and ballot initiatives in Pennsylvania, Georgia, California, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada. Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
NARAL’s work in Nevada includes:
- Knocking on nearly 100,000 doors in Las Vegas, making over 26,000 calls, and sending over 108,000 texts;
- Running a robust canvass operation in Las Vegas since it began its work in the state in 2016, holding daily canvasses for over two months; and
- Deploying NARAL Pro-Choice America president Mini Timmaraju to fight side-by-side with champions and get out the vote in key races.
Key components of our midterm campaign include:
- Harnessing the full power of our 4 million members to mobilize their communities through traditional organizing tactics. In total, we knocked on over 330,000 doors, made nearly 707,000 calls, sent over 868,000 texts, and filled over 4,860 volunteer shifts.
- Continuing to broaden the impact of our cutting-edge research into voter sentiment on abortion, including our pioneering freedom-centered messaging, by training candidates, volunteers, and activists to speak to their communities in ways we know align with their values and move them to act on their beliefs.
- Rolling out a pilot program in Michigan with 14 organizers working on seven four-year college campuses and over 20 community college campuses to enroll voters and activate over 721 volunteers.
- Endorsing candidates in over 200 races nationwide for federal and state offices.
- NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and EMILY’s List announced a partnership in May to collectively spend a historic $150 million on the 2022 midterms to elect reproductive freedom champions up and down the ballot across the country.
###
For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.