Twelve relatives of a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Nevada wrote an op-ed on Monday opposing him.

“The decision to write this column has not been an easy one for us,” the dozen relatives said in the op-ed published in the Reno Gazette Journal. “We are writing as members of the Laxalt family who have spent our lives in Nevada, and feel compelled to protect our family name from being leveraged and exploited by Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for governor.”

The piece was written by Laxalt’s aunt and several cousins.

Laxalt is currently the attorney general in Nevada and is the grandson of Paul Laxalt, who served as a senator for Nevada and was the chairman for the late President Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaigns.

The op-ed questioned if Laxalt was qualified to be governor, noting that his career as a lawyer was described as a “train wreck” by employees at his own law firm. Also, they say, he grew up on the East Coast, and only moved to Nevada to pursue a political career.

The relatives also wrote that if Laxalt were to respond to their op-ed, he would probably say that he “hardly knows the people writing this article,” likely because he did not grow up around the family.

His “false claims” that he was born and raised in Nevada, the relatives say, are difficult to hear.

“We would be proud to have a Laxalt running for office on Nov. 6, regardless of whether they were Republican or Democrat or independent, so long as we believed that they would be good for Nevada,” the dozen wrote. “We’re writing because we care about Nevada and because we know the truth about this candidate. We think that you should, too.”

Laxalt, born in Reno and raised in Washington, D.C., moved back to Nevada in 2013.

Laxalt, who was endorsed by President Trump, is facing a battle for governor against Democratic Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak.