Shady GOP antics are afoot in the Silver State. Nevada Republicans are, understandably, less than thrilled about losing what had been a slim 11-10 majority to the Democrats in the 2016 elections. The loss of Senate control coincided with a dramatic power shift toward Democrats in the state Assembly, where Republicans went from a 24-15 majority (plus one Libertarian) to a 17-27 minority overnight last fall. And one senator added insult to the GOP’s new minority-status injury by leaving the Republican caucus a few days after the election, declaring herself an independent and caucusing with Democrats, giving them an effective 12-9 majority in the state Senate. Only GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval stands between Republicans and relative political irrelevance in the state.
Republicans theoretically have a chance for a comeback next year, but their electoral prospects are less than sunny in the upper chamber. In 2018, the half of the state Senate that wasn’t on the ballot last fall is up for election. Unfortunately for the GOP, however, the 10 Senate seats going before voters next year include only three districts currently held by Democrats, all of whom survived the rather difficult 2014 cycle with strong performances. The most viable pickup “opportunity” for Republicans is to replace party-switcher Patricia Farley in a seat where Clinton edged Trump 48-47. But that only matters if they can successfully play defense, because one Republican incumbent on the ballot next fall currently occupies a seat Clinton carried easily (52-43), giving Democrats an opportunity to further expand their majority.
So, faced with a tough election cycle, Republicans could attempt to do things like recruit great candidates, raise a ton of money, or resign themselves to working cooperatively with their Democratic colleagues for the next three years to advance policies that move Nevada forward.
Instead, Republicans are trying to trigger election do-overs in three districts: two in seats they lost last fall and one in a competitive district they worry they can’t win in a general election. The third senator they’re trying to recall—Farley, who now caucuses with Democrats—isn’t even running for re-election, but Republicans are clearly worried they won’t pick her open seat back up.
Multiple media outlets are already decrying Republicans’ attempt to recall Farley and two of her colleagues, Democratic Sens. Joyce Woodhouse and Nicole Cannizzaro. Provisions for recalling elected officials exist in state law, but to date, no Nevada legislator has ever been successfully recalled from office.
For that track record to change, petitioners must get signatures from 25 percent of each district’s voters who participated in the 2016 elections within 90 days. The organizations behind the signature-gathering efforts won’t reveal the rationale for these senators’ recalls (legally, they don’t have to until signatures are submitted). Sandoval and most GOP state senators are distancing themselves from the recall efforts, but no Republicans have been willing to condemn it on the record. Republican Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, however, says the recalls are a response to a legislative session he decried as “pro-felon and anti-business.”
Roberson’s statement gets closer to the dirty heart of the matter: Democratic senators cast votes Republicans don’t like. Elections matter; winners get to govern. Democrats in Nevada have conducted normal legislative business, proposing and voting on bills, some of which Republicans also supported, some of which they did not.
Being in a legislative minority is no fun, and Republicans reasonably expect to be stuck there through the next election cycle. But triggering new elections just to undo the results of the most recent election simply because you don’t like them is a lousy way to do democracy, and it effectively demonstrates why Republicans deserve their minority status. They can’t sell their candidates or their ideas to the electorate, so they’re attempting to trigger (historically) lower-turnout special elections in the hope it will give them more control over who shows up at the ballot box (although recent special election results suggest Republicans are screwed in that regard, too).
We won’t know until late October or early November whether these efforts to trigger recalls will be successful, but the mere fact that Republicans are attempting this farce is both troubling and an insult to these districts’ voters, who sent the candidates of their choice to Carson City as recently as last fall. But regardless of the success of these antics, the recall attempts themselves prove that Nevada Republicans are willing to take extreme measures to take back the majority and merit continued scrutiny, lest they try to pull further shenanigans.
