Welcome to Your First Muth's Truths PLUS!
* * * You’re receiving this very first edition of Muth’s Truths PLUS thanks to partnering up with Citizen Outreach as we prepare for 2023 Nevada Legislative session and kick-off the 2024 election cycle.
You are the cream of the conservative crop. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And don’t let anyone tell you that “one person can’t make a difference.” Anyone who believes that has never tried to fall asleep with a single fly buzzing around your head!
Now on with the show…
* * * The Nevada GOP blew it big time (I know, redundant) in not doing more to kill Question 3, which would end partisan primaries and impose “ranked choice” voting on Nevada. If it passes again in 2024, it’ll put a dagger through the political hearts of Nevada Republicans. Let’s hope someone wakes up the GOP before it’s too late.
* * * The Nevada GOP should have put ALL of its efforts into April Becker’s race for NV’s 3rd congressional district. Instead, it got greedy, divided its resources and tried to pick up all three Dem-held seats. They ended up losing all three.
* * * Last spring, GOP leaders & consultants in Nevada boasted of potentially picking up two state Senate seats, which would have propelled them from a 12-9 minority into an 11-10 majority. Instead, they failed to pick up any of their three targeted Democrat-incumbent seats and lost one of their own. So now they’re going into the 2023 session down 13-8. Lovely.
* * * Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (AD-2) handily won her re-election in this swing district. Her voting record isn’t the most conservative, but neither is it the most liberal. She's a small businesswoman and her district is in Clark County (where the GOP problems are biggest). Plus she raised a boatload of money. You’d think someone like that would be ideal as the caucus leader.
Instead, caucus members elected Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill, a moderate, career government employee from Carson City who raised less than half what Kasama raised and voted for the largest tax hike in state history in 2015. Can’t fix stupid.
* * * In Assembly District 12, Republican Fleming Larson lost a squeaker by just 384 votes out of over 20,000 cast in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 5,500 voters. The GOP needs to seriously look at what Mr. Larson did…because something worked. And hopefully he’ll consider taking another shot at this seat in 2024.
* * * Republican Tiffany Jones lost her bid for Assembly District 35 (Clark) by 382 votes in a race where a third-party candidate, Mindy “The Mouth” Robinson - who’s nuttier than a fruitcake - picked up 920 votes. That loss put the GOP into a super-MINORITY in the Assembly. Way to go Mindy.
* * * In the Clark County Commission District E race, independent candidate Marco Herrera garnered less than 8% of the vote. He had previously challenged incumbent Tick Segerblom in 2018 and came within 100+ votes of beating him in the Democratic primary. So he was both credible and potentially viable. But the Republican candidate in the race got 37% of the vote even though he was neither credible nor viable. Partisan loyalties remains
Lesson: Partisan loyalties remain strong. Most voters vote for the party they’re registered with. Indy candidates have virtually no chance unless they have a ton of money and a ton of name ID. And even then…
* * * Anna Albertson beat Sisolak-appointee Judge Ellie Roohani for District Court Department 11 in Clark County. Conservatives were deeply suspicious of Albertson, but Albertson ran a great campaign that Republicans could learn a lot from.
* * * Conservatives won an important race for Las Vegas Justice of the Peace, Department 10 with the election of Noreen Demonte, but took a huge loss with Judge Suzan Baucum failing barely to hold her seat in Department 13.
* * * There’s talk of replacing Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel with either former Rep. Lee Zeldin – who just lost his bid for governor of New York – or Mike Lindell of MyPillow fame. Neither is likely.
The RNC has a culture whereby its chair is plucked from the ranks of state chairs or Republican National Committee members. Outsiders with no party-leading experience are often talked about but rarely, if ever, elected.
If the GOP is to replace McDaniel at its meeting in January, it’ll likely have to be with a current or past state party chair.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“If Nevada Republicans hope to fight back, they’ll need to start winning elections.” – Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial, 11/27/22
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and blogs at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.