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Republicans Debate National Security, Immigration and More, But What Did It Mean For Nevada?

Republican presidential candidates debated in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.
John Locher/AP

Republican presidential candidates debated in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.

Tuesday night may not have been an evening in paradise for the nine Republican presidential candidates who took the national debate stage at the Venetian Hotel-Casino on the Strip.

Hosted by CNN and moderated by Wolf Blitzer, this was the last debate of 2015 before the election year begins.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, businessman Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Ohio governor John Kasich were put in the hot seat. 

Jacob Thompson associate professor of communication studies at UNLV thought Blitzer helped to keep the candidates on task, which he said can be difficult with so many people on stage. 

"It's very difficult with these primary debates with so many people," he said. "They really are almost a melee and so Wolf Blitzer and all the moderators are put in a very tough situation."

Nick Phillips, the former political director of the Clark County GOP, said he thought it was a good debate. He also felt the candidates were trying to really distinguish themselves from the crowd. 

 "You saw a big difference, I thought personally, between the legislative candidates that have been in Congress versus the ones who haven't, who have been in executive positions either the governor candidates or the business candidates," Phillips said.

Phillips said the legislative candidates often got caught up in the minutiae of policy, which he doesn't think translates well to the average voter. 

Phillips doesn't believe voters gathered any new information about the candidates, but he thought the candidates did get into more specifics about certain policies. 

Michael Schaus is the communications director for the Nevada Policy Research Institute. He believes CNN avoided making the debate a 'Trump-centric event.'

"So, I don't think he was asked as much and honestly I don't think that he was brushed up on some of the issues like some of the others," Schaus said. "Maybe that's why he wasn't his usual boisterous, interrupting self."

Thompson believes this debate was one of the most important debates of the whole political season.

"I think this was one of the most important debates in terms of a candidates ability to single themselves out," he said.

He thought it was Jeb Bush's big chance to gain traction. He also thought it was a change for Macro Rubio and Ted Cruz to faceoff with each other. 

They all agree that there are big divisions with in the party and there is not one candidate that is checking all the boxes for Republican voters.

"What we saw last night on the Republican stage is a real diverse set of ideas," Schaus said, "They do have ideological diversity in that party and that's probably a big part of the reason why the Republican Party seems so pitted against itself right now."

 

 

Michael Schaus, communications director, Nevada Policy Research Institute; Jacob Thompson, associate professor of communication studies, UNLV; Nick Phillips, former political director, Clark County GOP

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.