Good piece on the June 14th Nevada GOP primary for U.S. Senate:
Reno Public Radio's Julia Ritchey spoke with Steve Sebelius, veteran political columnist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, on the unexpected match-up in an already unusual election cycle.
Sebelius says it took many political observers by surprise, including him, when Angle filed to run, especially after losing to Sen. Reid in 2010 by six points.
“Her explanation is that she was encouraged by conservative lawmakers, including Brent Jones of Las Vegas and Sen. Don Gustavson from Northern Nevada,” he says. “They thought there needed to be a conservative alternative to Joe Heck, which surprised a lot of people who thought Joe Heck was the conservative alternative. He’s not known in anyone’s book as a liberal.”
So far, though, it doesn’t appear Angle is posing a serious threat to Heck’s candidacy. Sebelius says at this stage, normal campaigns would be gathering data and mobilizing voters.
“I have a sneaking suspicion that her campaign is really not doing those things, and I think this may be more of a vanity candidacy than an actual serious attempt to knock Joe Heck out,” he says.
There might be some truth there. We’ll see what effect Angle really has on Heck’s chances. But it’s really not her that he’s sweating, it’s this guy:
Nevada was an easy victory in the early campaign months for Donald Trump as the billionaire businessman and reality television star started stacking up the wins he needed to become the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.
Now, Trump is the only Republican candidate left.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s announcement on Wednesday to exit the race cleared the way for Trump, less than 24 hours after U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas dropped out.
But for Republicans running in other Silver State races, Trump’s dominant lead in the presidential race adds another layer of complication:
Do they enthusiastically support the man who is now their party’s inevitable nominee for president?
Or do they reject him, hoping to pick up voters who are turned off by his bombastic statements and controversial comments about women, immigrants in the country illegally and others?
On Wednesday, campaigns of two Nevada Republicans — U.S. Rep. Joe Heck and U.S. Rep. Cresent Hardy — gave measured, carefully-worded statements promising to support Trump. Neither statement mentioned Trump directly by name, a sign of the political tightrope that Republicans are already walking.
Nevada Democrats, meanwhile, simultaneously sprang into action Wednesday, delighted to tie Trump’s statements to any Republican candidate who gives even the smallest gesture of support.
The stakes are high in Nevada. Heck is running for the open U.S. Senate seat of outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. It’s one of the few Senate seats that Republicans could flip to the GOP side.
That’s right, Heck is already walking a tight line when it comes to Trump:
Republicans have worried a Donald Trump at the top of the ticket would spell down-ticket disaster. Heck's not, he says. "We're focused solely on our race throughout the state and making sure that we develop the relationships necessary to succeed," he told me.
Tuesday night saw Trump crush Cruz in Indiana, and it saw an even bigger surprise when Texas Senator Ted Cruz, before 6pm our time, dropped out of the race, leaving John Kasich now as the sole GOP alternative. Trump ends the evening on the verge of capturing the nomination.
I asked Heck if he'd support Trump, who now looks to be the presumptive nominee.
"Look, I'll support whoever the nominee is coming out of the convention," Heck said.
And will he be in Cleveland when Republicans meet in July?
"Well, I plan to be home. I've got a whole state that I've got to campaign in, so we're going to be here in Nevada campaigning."
Of course Heck’s sugar daddies, the Koch Brothers, are already pouring money to help save Heck from Trump by attacking Catherine Cortez Masto (D. NV):
A conservative political action committee funded in part by the Koch brothers is spending more than $1 million to air television ads attacking Nevada Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto.
Freedom Partners Action Fund, based in Arlington, Va., announced the two ads on Tuesday. One says that when Cortez Masto was attorney general, she hired a Washington law firm to help residents deal with the housing crisis, then reaped thousands in campaign donations from the firm’s attorneys.
The second ad criticizes her travel while in office. Both ads label her a “special interest politician.”
Cortez Masto's campaign immediately fired back.
“Washington Republicans are lying about Catherine Cortez Masto’s record because they know as Nevada’s next senator, she will focus on solving problems for Nevada families, not pushing their extreme agenda,” said campaign spokesman Zach Hudson.
As attorney general, Cortez Masto “held Big Banks accountable and helped deliver $1.9 billion in relief to Nevadans,” Hudson said in a statement. Cortez Masto's travel was in the course of participating in groups of attorneys general around the country.
Hudson went on to criticize Republican candidate Rep. Joe Heck, noting that Heck had called the mortgage crisis a “blip on the radar.”
If we are going to send the first female Latina Senator to be U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D. MA) ally to take on the big banks, we have to make sure the base comes out to vote. Click here to donate and get involved with Cortez Masto’s campaign.