* In a “purple” state like Nevada, there’s considerable GOP focus on persuading
“independents” to vote Republican - as there should be since indies make up
about a third of the voting population.
* However, it’s impossible to argue that the failure to attract enough indies in the 2022 election was the reason why Republicans lost so many races they should have won.
* For example, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt lost by around 8,000 votes, while more than 155,000 active, registered Republicans stayed home and didn’t cast a ballot.
* Which means if a voter is registered with one of the two major parties, who they will vote for – with occasional exceptions – is a done deal. *IF* they actually show up and cast a ballot.
* Democrats understand this. They identify the registered Democrats who are unlikely to vote without some coaxing and focus on getting them to the polls long before Election Day. They call
them. They email them. They text them.
* They show up at their doors. They offer to drive them to the polls. They offer to take their mail-in ballots and drop them off now that the Legislature has made such “ballot harvesting” legal in Nevada.
* Republicans run TV and radio ads, put up billboards, and mail out postcards that are routinely thrown away…unread.
* Registered Republicans have already been persuaded to vote Republican. That’s why they registered Republican in the first place.
* The challenge is collecting their ballots and/or making sure they get to the polls during early voting or on election day. Republicans – especially the Nevada Republican Party under Chairman Michael McDonald for the last four election cycles - have been terrible at this.
* When 155,000+ Nevada Republicans stay home and don’t vote – the vast majority of whom would vote GOP – the problem isn’t in persuading indies to vote Republican, but simply in getting more Republicans to simply vote.
* Alas, the party’s leadership is more focused on getting themselves re-elected to their party positions – wasting time arguing over rules, membership credentials, and bylaws - than electing
Republicans.
* And the beat goes on…
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“For those members of the (RepublicanNational Committee) who vote not with what the people in their state want but with what their own self-interest is, the next time they’re up for election,
it’s going to be an issue.” – California Republican National Committeewoman and candidate for RNC chair, Harmeet Dhillon
(NOTE: Nevada’s Republican National Committeewoman, Sigal Chattah, has endorsed Dhillon. Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald and Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid have endorsed incumbent Chair Ronna McDaniel. The election is scheduled for this Friday.)