Next year’s race for governor has gotten off to one of the earliest starts ever, with a half-dozen or more Republicans trying to unseat incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak.
Their resumes run the gamut, including a Las Vegas councilwoman who also happens to be under federal investigation; a former senator seeking a comeback; the mayor of North Las Vegas, who earlier this year switched from Democrat to Republican; and the Clark County sheriff, who refuses to say if Joe Biden is the legitimate president.
And even as Sisolak has endured criticism over his handling of the pandemic, the Republicans focus on issues stoked by former President Donald Trump. And attention paid to issues such as election security and critical race theory leaves less time for a more Nevada-specific debate.
“Unfortunately, it is what the people who are going to decide the primaries want to hear,” said lobbyist and former Republican state Sen. Warren Hardy. “As a rule, serious candidates for high office don't speak off the cuff. they've tested these messages. they've tested what they believe that their base wants to hear.”
College of Southern Nevada Professor Sondra Cosgrove said Nevada’s closed primary system — where only party members can vote — creates incentives for candidates to appeal to the activist base.
“You've got candidates who are really going to be targeting for from now until (the primary in) June, a very small sliver of their base,” said Cosgrove, who is also executive director and board chair for Vote Nevada, a civic engagement nonprofit.
“We've all learned the hard way with the pandemic is how many broken systems we have in this state,” she said, mentioning mental health and unemployment as examples. “I personally think one of our broken systems is the closed primary.”
Sisolak has the luxury of watching the Republicans bloody each other in the primary, but he’ll carry his own baggage into next year’s fall campaign, according to Steve Sebelius, government and politics editor for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“The governor is vulnerable in this election for a variety of reasons,” he said, “including the mask mandates, the shutdown of businesses, and things like that.”
Steve Sebelius, government/politics editor, Las Vegas Review-Journal; Sondra Cosgrove, College of Southern Nevada history professor, good government advocate; Warren Hardy, lobbyist, former Republican state senator
