Bill Hemmer reveals key House states in the midterm elections
'America's Newsroom' co-host Bill Hemmer provides insight into which House races to watch as the midterms approach on 'The Story with Martha MacCallum.'
Five years ago, the Route 91 massacre shook all of Las Vegas. My niece was at the festival that night, and while she made it home safe, I will never forget waiting at the reunification center the next day with families whose loved ones did not. I’m grateful for Nevada’s police officers who were on the scene immediately and helped prevent any more loss of life. They got to work on investigating what happened, and I worked with both parties and the Trump Administration to secure a federal grant to cover overtime for the officers who were responding to the shooting.
Public safety challenges large and small, including the Route 91 Harvest Festival, are why it’s so critical that our law enforcement get the resources they need. I have consistently supported Nevada’s law enforcement and worked with them so they can keep Nevada safe.
I’ve been around law enforcement for most of my adult life. I served as a federal prosecutor and then as Nevada’s attorney general for eight years. My husband, Paul, is retired from the Secret Service and proudly protected presidents of both parties. As the wife of a federal law enforcement officer, I know what it’s like to have a loved one leave the house for the day and never being sure that they’re going to come home. That’s why supporting law enforcement has always been so important to me - because I know they protect us every day.
When I was attorney general, I met a woman who had just been rescued from a human trafficker. Her story broke my heart, and I resolved to fight for her and every woman in our state being trafficked. I got to work with law enforcement to crack down on human traffickers and expand support for survivors, leading legislation to ensure human trafficking survivors would get proper compensation, writing the law to make sex trafficking a felony crime, and getting legislation passed to expand access to sexual assault kits for victims.
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U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) speaks at the Nevada Democratic Party's election results watch party at Caesars Palace on November 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ((Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images))
To keep Nevadans safe, I worked to combat trafficking on the border, working with attorneys general in Mexico to fight cross-border crime, including the trafficking of people, weapons and drugs. I partnered with law enforcement and lawmakers of both parties to get methamphetamine off Nevada’s streets, passing bipartisan legislation restricting the sale of ingredients used to make meth.
Coming from a law enforcement family, I’ve spent enough time with Nevada officers to know that anyone calling to "defund the police" is completely wrong. I have not wavered from this position, and I’ve voted to limit funding to local governments that do so. Don’t just take my word for it - Police Chief Jason Soto is the one who said, "When calls to defund the police were the loudest, I was very reassured to have the senator make it clear that she didn't agree."
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Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., listens as Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland testifies during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Department of the Interior budget on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In fact, I’ve led the Senate fight to get our officers the support they need. I teamed up with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa to deliver historic funding for local law enforcement — the most in over a decade. Nevada state law enforcement officers are paid 35% less than other officers, and they were hit especially hard during the pandemic. They need our help, and that’s why I fully support their push to be made whole from their pandemic sacrifices through American Rescue Plan funding. That’s exactly what these federal dollars were designed to support.
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Actor Jimmy Smits introduces U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto at the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts 2017 Noche de Gala at The Mayflower Hotel on September 11, 2017 in Washington, DC.
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Our law enforcement officers are on the front lines, and the stressors they face have a serious impact on their mental health. My bills were signed into law by presidents of both parties to help us combat the crisis of law enforcement suicides and to get our officers the mental health resources they need. I’m also working across the aisle with Senator Grassley to boost funding for small and rural police departments so they can recruit and retain officers, fund essential training, and get a leg up to compete with larger agencies.
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I have always looked out for Nevada’s law enforcement. I’m proud to say that in this campaign I’m not only endorsed by Police Chief Jason Soto in his first-ever Democratic endorsement, but by the Nevada Police Union as well as the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers and the Nevada Law Enforcement Coalition, representing 19 law enforcement and public safety unions in Nevada and thousands of officers across the state. That’s because I always have their back.