Democrats have landed a pretty big name in the open seat race to replace Dean Heller:
Nevada State Treasurer Kate Marshall announced today that she will run for Congress in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.
“Nevadans deserve a voice in Congress that will fight for middle class families, and that’s what I intend to do. I’ll work every day to create jobs in northern Nevada and win the fight to control runaway spending in Washington," Marshall said.
Marshall was first elected in 2006, and successfully won re-election last year despite the GOP tide. She's undoubtedly a very strong candidate on paper for Democrats, but the problem is that two other Democrats have previously said that they're running: '06/'08 candidate Jill Derby and former university Regent Nancy Price. Why is that a problem? That's because this election is an HI-01-style ballot royale, where there will be no party primaries to sort out each side's field.
The situation has the very real potential to hurt Republicans, too, especially if Sharron Angle pulls the trigger against a more "mainstream" Republican candidate like Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki or former state Sen. Mark Amodei -- but Team Blue can probably only take advantage of a Republican split by uniting around a consensus choice.
Let's hope our side can work something out.