Washington, D.C.— Following the latest in a series of race-baiting attacks by the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) in Nevada, the Democratic Attorneys General Association (@DemocraticAGs) released the following statement from Executive Director Sean Rankin doubling down on their support for State Senator Aaron Ford for Nevada Attorney General.

STATEMENT FROM SEAN RANKIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL ASSOCIATION:

“The latest attack by RAGA is not only racist, but it’s out of bounds and unacceptable. Using someone’s child as a vehicle to get footage that would undoubtedly be used in ads to push a false narrative about Senator Ford is disgusting, and now they are lying about the requests they made, claiming they did not request information about a minor.”

“This kind of tactic has no place in our politics nor in our communities. If RAGA wants to have a serious conversation about who is the best candidate for the people of Nevada, then let’s have it. The AG candidate who will put Nevada families first, fight corruption, work to prevent senseless gun violence, and stand up for the people is Senator Aaron Ford. We stand with Senator Ford.”

Background on RAGA’s Racist Tactics in Nevada:

This week, RAGA filed a lawsuit against Las Vegas police over blocked attempts to obtain body camera footage that involves an incident one of Ford’s children and their friends. According to the lawsuit, RAGA submitted at least four public records requests for police body camera footage all of which were denied. According the Las Vegas Review Journal, Metro refused to produce any records or body camera footage. Metro cited various reasons in their denials, including that they could not release any records because it involved juveniles.

RAGA claims it tailored its request to omit any footage of the minor and that state law didn’t allow the agency to withhold the records for that purpose. However, that is patently false. See lawsuit attached here.

• In Section 47 (pg 11) of suit says that it was “narrowly tailored” to only footage depicting Ford.
• In the exhibit 1-A (pg. 20), the request asks for “ALL footage or audio “concerning minor child [name redacted] and/or Aaron Ford.”
• In exhibit 1-C (pg. 26), another request asks for “ALL footage or audio “concerning minor child [name redacted], [name redacted] and/or Aaron Ford.”

In August, RAGA launched a racially-charged digital effort against Democratic Attorney General candidate Aaron Ford based on reports that he was arrested a few times as a college student. However, Adam Laxalt’s arrest history didn’t stop RAGA from campaigning for him four years ago, despite his previous DUI, failure to pay the fine, and failure to appear in court.

The difference? Aaron Ford is running to be Nevada’s first Black Attorney General. As noted in the Nevada Current, there is a long history of using coded language to appeal to a target audience — known as dog-whistle politics. People of color running for office have often been subjected to this tactic when attack ads use terms that paint them as violent, lazy or having “run-ins with the law.”