Sharron Angle (R-NV) who has never been well received by the Nevada GOP establishment, may have to run as a third party candidate if the Secretary of State announces that party committee leaders would pick the candidates to run for Republican Congressman Dean Heller’s 2nd Congressional District seat (CD2) if it opens up.
Last month after Senator John Ensign (R-NV) first announced that he would not seek reelection, Dean Heller quickly announced (the very next day) that he would run for the Senate in 2012. And right behind Heller’s announcement came an announcement by Sharron Angle that she would run for Heller’s congressional seat (CD2).
But now, in the wake of Ensign’s announced resignation there is speculation that Nevada’s republican Governor Brian Sandoval will appoint Dean Heller to finish Ensign’s senate term which ends in 2012.
The democrats are hoping that Sharron Angle does run as a third party because it would help to split the republican vote between her and the republican on the ticket, opening the door for a democrat to win the CD2 seat in a district that leans very republican.
If Sandoval appoints Heller a special election must be held with in 6 months to fill the CD2 seat. But Nevada law is a little sketchy with two different statutes on the books pertaining on how too proceed in selecting party candidates to run for the open seat.
Basically, one statute says that an open Special election will be held without a primary, and the winner takes the open seat. The other statute says that party committee leaders would pick who they want to run in the Special election for the open seat. And if the latter is chosen, Sharron Angle will most likely be left out because she is not well liked among Nevada’s GOP leaders.
The decision on how to proceed to fill Heller’s seat if Heller is appointed to the Senate, will be made by the Secretary of State, Ross Miller.
Governor Brian Sandoval said he would make his announcement on his appointment to fill Ensign’s seat by Friday. The democrats want Sandoval to fill the seat with a party leader who is not currently in an elected office, which would save the State and Washoe county hundreds of thousands of dollars by avoiding a Special election, plus it would give the democrats a better chance of winning the Senate seat in the General election in 2012.