Subject: Las Vegas Review-Journal: Trump’s looming nomination poses problem for GOP candidates in Nevada
From: Stewart Boss <[email-masked]>
To: Stewart Boss <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 08:19:15 -0700

*Las Vegas Review-Journal: Trump’s looming nomination poses problem for GOP
candidates in Nevada
<http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/elections/trump-s-looming-nomination-poses-problem-gop-candidates-nevada>*

By BEN BOTKIN and SANDRA CHEREB

Posted May 4, 2016

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.

Hardy, a first-term congressman, is running for re-election in the 4th
Congressional District. Democrats, who have a voter registration edge in
the district, hope to pick up the seat.

“Congressman Hardy has said from the beginning that he will support whoever
the nominee is,” Hardy campaign spokesman Ross Hemminger said. “He is
focused on serving the people of the 4th District in his campaign here in
Nevada.”

Heck’s campaign spokesman, Brian Baluta, said: “Dr. Joe Heck will support
the Republican nominee and he will continue to focus on his own campaign,
reaching out to all Nevadans to convince them that when it comes to jobs,
the economy, national security, health care and education, he is by far the
most qualified candidate to be their voice in the U.S. Senate.”

Both Heck and Hardy were unavailable for interviews.

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval had endorsed Kasich in April after Trump won
the Nevada caucuses in February.

In a Facebook statement, Sandoval said he has a “tremendous amount of
respect” for Kasich.

“Now that he has dropped out of the race, I plan to vote for the
presumptive nominee although it is no secret that we do not agree on every
issue,” Sandoval said. “Elections are about making choices and the
Democratic nominee is simply not an option.”

Sandoval was asked about his support of Trump, given the candidate’s
disparaging remarks about women and immigrants, who make a large portion of
Nevada’s population.

“With regard to what you just described, we disagree on a lot of things and
that is one of them,” Sandoval told the Review-Journal on Wednesday.

“I’m hopeful that in the future that he’ll change his position with regard
to those statements.”

*DEMOCRATS REACT*

The Nevada State Democratic Party reacted with a tongue-in-cheek letter
inviting Trump to the state.

Signed by state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange, the letter to Trump
highlighted Nevada’s role as a battleground state, including congressional
races and the open Senate seat that Reid is vacating.

Lange wrote that Democrats are in “strong position to win” those races,
adding, “But we’re eager to see just how big of an albatross you can be for
down-ballot Republicans.”

Pointing to prominent GOP candidates supporting Trump, including Heck and
Hardy, Lange wrote: “So Nevada Republicans are sure to welcome you here
with open arms.”

She added: “Unlike the Republicans, Democrats are actually going to hold
you accountable. And we know for a fact your racist, misogynistic,
anti-immigrant rhetoric will inspire even more of our supporters to get
involved and elect Democrats.”

*‘SHOULD BE NERVOUS’*

For Republicans on Nevada’s election ballot, the prospect of Trump as the
GOP’s presidential nominee is cause for angst, University of Nevada, Reno
political scientist Eric Herzik said Wednesday.

“Absolutely they should be nervous,” Herzik said.

“It forces down-ballot candidates to make a decision on, ‘Are you going to
support Donald Trump?’ And that in itself can be problematic.”

Heck, who is trying to flip Reid’s Senate seat from blue to red, perhaps
has the most cause to fret.

Trump has alienated immigrants, women and Latinos, a growing and powerful
voting force in Nevada.

“If Joe Heck has to come out and say, ‘Yea, I back Donald Trump,’ then when
Trump goes off on illegal immigrants and Mexican criminals, it comes back
on him,” Herzik said.

“In Nevada, you always hear about the Latino vote, the sleeping giant,” he
said. “I have never seen Latinos mobilized this early.”

Trump, Herzik predicted, is “going to get killed in that demographic.”

“And if that demographic turns out in higher numbers, that’s problematic
for Trump and everybody down ticket.”

Democrats, in contrast, will have two women at the top of the Nevada ticket
— one of whom is a Latina. Hillary Clinton is the likely Democratic
presidential nominee and former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez
Masto is running against Heck in the Senate race.

“The people who don’t like Hillary Clinton would never vote for Hillary
Clinton,” Herzik said. “But Donald Trump has energized a whole bunch of
people who don’t like him.”

http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/elections/trump-s-looming-nomination-poses-problem-gop-candidates-nevada

-- 
*Stewart Boss*
Press Secretary
Nevada State Democratic Party
(704) 733-0313
@stew_boss <https://twitter.com/stew_boss>