Adam Laxalt
Adam Laxalt is another one of those tricky candidates who adhere to the newer brand of conservative climate bullshitting that is hard to call out. He doesn’t outright deny that climate change is happening, but he recently downplayed renewable energy as “simply not enough,” while also blaming bad “forest management” for wildfires in the West. He also has a history of helping out the oil and gas industry: While serving as Nevada’s attorney general in 2016, Laxalt joined up with pro-oil interests like the Koch brothers to defend ExxonMobil from a probe into its role in downplaying oil and gas’s influence on climate change. (The Koch brothers went on to generously donate $2.5 million to Laxalt’s failed gubernatorial campaign in 2018.)
Rating: 8/10. That Exxon boosting is making me uncomfortable.
