In Nevada, Republican attorney general candidate Wes Duncan told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that as Deputy Attorney General he worked with GOP gubernatorial candidate and current Attorney General Adam Laxalt to “keep the state safe.” Duncan noted “he worked side by side with Adam on some unbelievable initiative and [Laxalt] helped keep the state safe.”

That all sounds great, except recently released nationwide crime statistics from the FBI for 2017 show homicide rates in Nevada were at their highest levels since 2007 under Laxalt and Duncan’s tenure. Crime data for Nevada dated back to 1995 can be found here.

While Duncan has served as Deputy Attorney General with Laxalt, homicide in Nevada have risen continuously each year.

• In 2017, Nevada’s murder rate reached a decade-long high of 9.1 homicides per 100,000 people — almost twice the national average.
• Under Laxalt-Duncan, murder rates rose to and remained at their highest levels this decade for murder.

These comments to the Review-Journal immediately followed Duncan’s call on voters to take into account whether Adam Laxalt’s arrest for assaulting a police officer “hurts his ability to be the next governor.” Duncan, who continues to support Laxalt, is currently benefiting from racist ads paid for by the Republican Attorneys General Association attacking Democratic candidate Aaron Ford for nonviolent offenses in his youth. This all follows sharp backlash earlier this cycle from Duncan’s failure to denounce accused rapist Storey County Sheriff Gerald Antinoro.

Duncan’s campaign slogan is “Nevada needs a proven leader to keep us safe”—and that may be true, but that leader sure isn’t Wes Duncan. The only thing Wes Duncan has proven is that he’s a hypocrite who does not understand the definition of the word “safe.” Nevada deserves better than Duncan.