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After Cleveland; What's Next For Nevada's Politics?

KNPR contributors Steve Sebelius and Jon Ralston weigh in on the Republican National Convention and what impact it may have for Nevada.

KNPR contributors Steve Sebelius and Jon Ralston weigh in on the Republican National Convention and what impact it may have for Nevada.

They want Donald Trump as president and Hillary Clinton behind bars.

And Review Journal columnist Steve Sebelius is in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention to take it all in.

Meanwhile, back here in the baking sand, Jon Ralston is back on TV - at KTNV Channel 13. He has his eye on the Culinary Union, which is wading into the national presidential race after sitting out the primaries.

"There have been moments of utter banality but they alternate with excitement and things like we saw last night was really just amazing," Sebelius said. 

Sebelius was referring to Ted Cruz refusing to endorse Donald Trump, instead telling delegates to "vote your conscience." It was a move that received a standing ovation from some, and resounding 'boos' from others.

"Probably one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in 26 years of covering politics," Sebelius said.  

Sebelius will attend the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, and said Bernie Sanders is nowhere near the same position as Ted Cruz. 

"Bernie Sanders on the left is not the equivalent of Ted Cruz on the right," Sebelius said. "First of all, people actually like Bernie Sanders, he has friends in the Senate and he's not considered universally as the most hated man on the Senate side of the Capitol." 

But the GOP's uniting behind Donald Trump may have some negative waves for Republican's down-ticket, including Joe Heck, who is running for Harry Reid's Senate seat. 

"[Heck] is now using the neat trick a few others are doing which is that kind of tepidly endorsing Donald Trump by saying 'he's going to have to earn my wife's vote," Ralston said. 

Evidence to indicate that Joe Heck has a Trump problem is the number of Democratic registered voters in Clark County - which at the time of this article was near 123,000. 

"But again, the real wild card in the election, even though [Democrats] have a five percent lead is that about a fifth of the electorate is independant and non-partisan, and about a quarter is not registered with either political party." 

Last week, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton attended an event hosted by the Culinary Union, the largest union in the state. 

"The Latino vote, the union vote, is going to be very big for her in this state," Ralston said. "If the Latino vote turns out the numbers and votes we saw anwhere close to 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton will likely win Nevada." 

 

Steve Sebelius, Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist and host, Politics Now

Jon Ralston, Reno Gazette Journal columnist 

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Carrie Kaufman no longer works for KNPR News. She left in April 2018)