* Democrat Nevada Attorney General A.Ron Ford is termed out and can’t run for re-election in 2026. Yet on Monday he sent out a fundraising email urging supporters “To start this new year with a bang” by donating “$5, $10, $25, $50, or more to Team Ford.”
* Sounds like an announcement that he’s running for governor in 2026 to me.
* The pre-primary primary for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat is almost over.
* Republicans have seven candidates announced. However, Sam Brown – U.S. Senate candidate in 2022 who lost in the primary to Adam Laxalt – has pretty much sealed the GOP nomination before filing even begins in March.
* Brown announced on Monday a 4th quarter fundraising haul of $1.85 million. According to Brown, that’s more than “all previous (Nevada) U.S. Senate campaign challengers in the Q4 of the election cycle off year, including Jacky Rosen’s $1.57m fundraising total during Q4 of 2017.”
* Combined with his 3rd quarter fundraising haul, Brown has now raised over $3 million.
* Money doesn’t mean everything in a campaign – don’t I know it! – but it does mean a lot. And Sam has a lot, while his opponents are having difficulty raising table scraps.
* Normally I’d recommend the other candidates drop out at this point. But Sam’s campaign messaging is still way off. He incessantly talks about himself and his personal story rather than what he stands for and what he’d DO as our representative in the Senate.
* Maybe the primary will sharpen his messaging.
* In Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District race, I got a real kick out of this press release sent out by one of the candidate’s campaign consultants on Monday…
“In a significant development in the race for Nevada's third congressional district, Elizabeth Helgelien gained a stronger frontrunner status following the unexpected withdrawal of Heidi Kasama. Helgelien, known for her commitment to placing America First, upholding law and order, securing the nation's borders, and prioritizing national security, has now become an even stronger primary contender in this pivotal race.”
* To paraphrase the late, great Margaret Thatcher, if you have to tell people you’re the frontrunner, you’re not.
* Helgelien absolutely would lose this race in the general election. More baggage than a Samsonite factory. And she’s certainly not the GOP “frontrunner” with Kasama’s withdrawal. The clear frontrunner in the primary now is Drew Johnson.
* Johnson’s odds of winning the seat are slim, as well. But they’re a heckuva lot better than Helgelien’s – especially considering who she’s hired as her campaign manager.
* Assembly District 35 is on the GOP’s “Top 10” list of targeted seats for this cycle.
* It’s currently being misrepresented by scandal-plagued Democrat Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow – who announced she wasn’t running for re-election a day after my ethics complaint against her was filed and picked up by the media.
* So I have a personal interest in this race.
* In addition, word on the street is that a particularly obnoxious far-left Democrat activist, Annette “Chicken Lady” Magnus, is thinking of running for the seat. That would double my interest.
* Gov. Lombardo has not endorsed a Republican in that race yet. But one of the candidates, Brittany Hausle, asked me to lunch on Monday – and I’ve got to say, she’s quite impressive.
* She’s an attorney who worked in DC as Deputy Executive Director for the Republican National Lawyers Association, as well as for Dr. Ben Carson at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
* For conservatives, I’ll note that she’s also a member of the Federalist Society. If you know…you know.
* This is absolutely a flippable seat. Keep an eye on it.
* After the Legislature passed a law changing Nevada from a “caucus” state to a “primary” state for presidential elections, Nevada Republican National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah sued last May on behalf of the Nevada Republican Party to block the primary.
* As usual, she lost. Judge James Russell said at the hearing to Chattah: “I'm just astounded because we did research and we found nothing to support your position.”
* Chattah then filed an appeal of the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court last August. But on Friday, apparently finally seeing the writing on the wall, she dropped the appeal, “citing confidential settlement discussions.”
* In other words, she didn’t have a case. Lost the case. Didn’t have a case for appeal. And dropped the appeal. And Republicans wonder why the party is so screwed up?
* By the way, in just the past few days, the chair of the Michigan GOP and the chair of the Florida GOP have been ousted from office. I’m just saying…
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.