WASHINGTON – A war of words in the Nevada U.S. Senate race has resulted in independent fact checkers skewering Democrat incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt for false and misleading advertisements or statements.

Independent analysis by news organizations have pilloried both candidates for straying from the truth in their attacks on one another.

Cortez Masto earned “three Pinocchios” from the Washington Post fact checker for blatant falsehoods in advertisements about Laxalt, which claimed that as state attorney general he did not sue an opioid company while pocketing its campaign contributions.

Last week, a Laxalt claim that Cortez Masto voted to raise taxes on those making as little as $30,000 was found to be false by the Associated Press in a fact check.

Meanwhile, PolitiFact, the Poynter Institute’s independent fact checker, scolded both candidates for other half truths: Cortez Masto for claiming Laxalt sided with big oil while taking campaign cash, and Laxalt for claiming the Inflation Reduction Act would raise taxes across all income brackets.

Campaign spokesmen for both candidates were nonplussed by the criticism, defending their questionable claims and doubling down on the attacks.

In a statement to the Review-Journal, a Laxalt campaign spokesman cited analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office, which was also examined by the Associated Press in its fact check that ruled against the candidate’s...

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