2023 Nevada Legislature: Winners & Losers, Part IV

(Chuck Muth) – The weather forecast yesterday was calling for rain up here in God’s country – which, not coincidentally, is “red” country as well, as evidence by the signage in this gas station in Chugwater, WY…

But we’ve got blue skies and sun this morning as Jenna and I head out to visit Custer’s Last Stand at Little Big Horn.

Hopefully, Gov. Joe Lombardo – similarly surrounded by hostile enemy forces in Carson City again this week – won’t suffer a similar fate.

Last minute decision…

We’re gonna pull off in Billings after leaving LBH and pick up a tent and some sleeping bags and hope to camp inside Yellowstone the next couple of days before making our way over to Carson City for the big Basque Fry this Saturday.

Since cell and Wi-Fi aren’t readily available inside Yellowstone, we might miss the Golden Knights game tonight.  But we’ll be there in spirit. Go Knights, go!

Now back to Winners & Losers…

Loser: Nevada Republican Party

The Nevada GOP was best when it was AWOL during the session.  Because on the rare occasions it engaged, they succeeded only in fragging their own elected officials.

Republican National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah was often worse than Victor Joecks since she, unlike Victor, holds a leadership position in the party. She tweeted this just two days ago…

“Utter failure would be an understatement. $2 Billion Dollars given to the worst public education system in the nation. Nevadans didn’t get school choice. Charter schools were shafted. MASSIVE failure. MASSIVE.”

Unfortunately, she forgot to mention it was the DEMOCRATS who screwed the pooch on all of that, since they completely control both house of the Legislature.

With friends like these…

Loser: Senate Republicans

With Republicans in a super-minority in the State Assembly, the only line of defense against tax hikes and for sustaining Gov. Lombardo’s vetoes is in the Senate, where Democrats are just one seat shy of getting a super-majority there as well.

Two Republican senators – Minority Leader Heidi Gansert and Sen. Carrie Buck – are in extreme danger of losing their seats next year and did nothing to shore up their base of support among GOP voters this session.

If anything, they made a bad situation worse.

Those seats may now be unsavable.  If so, the GOP’s only hope is to flip at least one seat in the Assembly to get out of their super-minority and give Gov. Lombardo the firewall he needs in the lower house instead of the upper house.

All of which proves, once again, that Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.

That’s it for now.  Yogi Bear is calling us.

And yes, there WERE some winners in this session.  And I’ll get to those in the next couple of days after Jenna and I emerge from the wilderness.  Hold down the fort ‘til we get back.

Go Knights, go! 

7 Worst Habits of Highly Unelectable People

1. Picking the wrong race
2. Picking the wrong district
3. Picking the wrong issues
4. Picking the wrong time
5. Picking the wrong consultants
6. Picking unnecessary fights with the media
7. Picking door-knocking over fundraising

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Without Gov. Lombardo in Carson City, Nevada would be sliding closer toward one-party rule, like California.” – Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial

“I don’t understand much about politics…” – Liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston, 1/2/20

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com.  You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.