LAS VEGAS (AP) — Many Republicans are breathing easier this week, confident that the fight over Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination fired up their voters.
Dean Heller isn't one of them. Facing a female challenger in a state gradually becoming more Democratic, the senator and longtime fixture in Nevada politics has long been one of the few GOP incumbents at risk of losing their seat this year.
Now, in the final weeks of the campaign, he's got a full-scale gender politics fight on his hands that will test whether the Supreme Court showdown will help or hurt the GOP's effort to maintain control of the Senate.
He's facing Jacky Rosen, who blasted Kavanaugh and railed on Heller's characterization of sexual misconduct allegations against him as a "hiccup" and "smears" in the confirmation process.