After weeks of military buildup exploded into a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine — and the most serious conflict in Europe since World War II — a U.S. Senate race so far focused on COVID and economic issues has taken a sharp turn toward foreign policy. 

In Florida, former attorney general and Republican Senate hopeful Adam Laxalt was in the thick of Trumpworld last week, hosting fundraisers alongside the former president at Mar-a-Lago before ending his trip with a short speech on the first day of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where the weekend-long theme was billed as “Awake, not woke.” 

But in the shadow of the Russian invasion, some speakers straddled the line between the theme and foreign policy, often echoing an argument from some conservatives that “woke” culture and left-leaning elites had played into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

That included Laxalt, who said on Friday:

“If you attack your country, if your elites do not believe in our nation, and they tell the rest of the world that we are flawed, and we are damaged, what do you think that tells Vladimir Putin? It tells him it's the time to march. And America will not be strong enough to stand up, the West will not be strong enough to stand up.”

Similarly, his CPAC speech also touted the “America First” policies of the Trump administration and decried the role of globalism in “allowing Russia to be able to be the energy power they are now.”

“They've told us for the last many generations that the world order would keep us safe, if only we relied more on international organizations, and [if] we weren't so America First, we'd be a more peaceful, prosperous, safe world,” Laxalt said. “We saw that unravel in a matter of months.”

Laxalt otherwise used his remarks — both at CPAC and Mar-a-Lago — to continue hammering away at his campaign’s central talking points: that the left is a “failed ideology” that has “attacked the American creed, our ethos” while allowing crime to increase alongside inflation. 

To that end, Laxalt also praised “the voters,” who understood “the gravity of what the Obama administration did to America” and in so doing, delivered Trump to the White House in 2016.

“And they gave us this guy that had titanium for a spine, this guy that withstood the largest leftist assault in American history every single day,” Laxalt said during the Mar-a-Lago fundraiser last Wednesday. 

In Washington, D.C., Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto waded through foreign policy waters, last Thursday calling for “crushing sanctions" to be imposed on Russia for a “grave mistake.” A day later, during a factory tour in Reno, the senator called the invasion “horrific.” 

“Nobody wins in a military war,” Cortez Masto told KTVN 2News in Reno. “Nobody wins with military action." 

And opposite Laxalt, dark horse Republican challenger Sam Brown released his own lengthy statement on Ukraine last Thursday, calling for steep economic sanctions and criticizing U.S. political and diplomatic leaders for having “abandoned red lines” and “conducted reckless [troop] withdrawals.”

“President Biden’s actions from the moment he took office have weakened the United States’ position of strength on the world stage and empowered Vladimir Putin,” Brown said. 

In an interview with The Nevada Independent Tuesday, Brown pointed specifically to energy policies in the U.S. and Europe, saying that the “West is still funding energy from Russia, despite all these sanctions, because they have such a bad need for it.” 

“Our energy policy has emboldened Putin to frankly have his way with the E.U. member countries,” Brown said. “Ukraine is such a pivotal piece of moving gas to Europe, that when the E.U. became dependent on Russia, we were not able to effectively provide relief.”

On the trail

In some unrelated campaign finance news, Laxalt’s campaign received a letter from the Federal Election Commission this week after a preliminary review of his end-of-year campaign finance filing surfaced multiple discrepancies. That includes excessive contributions from 13 separate donors, disbursements without a stated purpose and inadequate identification for some donors. 

A spokesperson for Laxalt’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the FEC letter. 

Brown also scored an endorsement from the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association last Tuesday, who called the first-time Nevada candidate a “proven leader” who “understands” law enforcement challenges.

Editor’s Note: This story appears in Indy 2022, The Nevada Independent’s newsletter dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the 2022 election. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Update: 3/1/2022 - This story was updated to include additional comments from an interview with Sam Brown on Tuesday, March 1.