Marchant Senate Launch Fails to Answer #1 Question

(Chuck Muth) – When the Nevada Globe broke the news that Jim Marchant announced at a sparsely-attended event that he was running for the GOP nomination for Nevada U.S. Senate yesterday, my immediate response on Twitter was…

“Is it April Fool’s Day again already?”

Sadly, no.

Let me start by conceding that Marchant is a nice guy.  And that during his one session as an Assemblyman in 2017 he had a solid conservative voting record.  However…

He ran for re-election in his comparatively small Assembly seat in a “swing” district in 2018…and lost.

He then tried to run for Congress in a much larger and heavily Democrat district in 2020…and lost.

He followed that up in 2022 by running statewide for Secretary of State, a seat few voters usually pay any attention to, in 2022…and lost.

So inquiring minds wanna know…

Why should Republicans in Nevada think he can pull off a major upset against Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen in a high-profile race next year that’s gonna cost millions?

I mean, if Adam Laxalt – who had boatloads of cash plus truckloads of independent expenditures on his behalf last year against Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto-Reid – couldn’t win a U.S. Senate seat in Nevada, why should anyone believe Marchant can?

Well, let’s take a look at the official press release his campaign put out yesterday with his announcement…

The release states that Marchant “announced his Senatorial campaign at a MAGA event.”

“MAGA,” of course, is the acronym for Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan and is pretty much interchangeable with the ex-president.

But all of the hardcore “MAGA” candidates in last year’s elections in “purple” Nevada – including Marchant – lost.  So why wave a red flag in front of the anti-Trump bulls right out of the gate?

Marchant goes on to state the following…

“When you’re choosing a Senator, one has to choose a leader that has the life experience to do the job. I believe I have that experience to be your next Senator in Nevada.”

Great.  You do.  But how are you going to win?

“As a proven Conservative in the Nevada Assembly, the American Conservative Union ranked me number one because of my voting record.  When I get into office, I will not change. I will not compromise my principles for anyone.”

Great.  And I don’t doubt it.  But how are you going to win and get into office in the first place?

“I love this state. From Elko, to Carson City and to Henderson, I have visited everyone (sic) of our 17 counties multiple times.”

Great.  But lots of us love this state and have been to all 17 counties.

So how are you going to win when the voters of those counties, combined, didn’t elect you just six short months ago to a lower office in a race that didn’t cost a fraction of what a U.S. Senate race will cost?

“The campaign will be run by Dick Morris and Rory McShane.”

Great. But Dick Morris is a has-been who hasn’t been relevant in winning campaigns since he worked for the Clintons in the 1990’s.  And, to the best of my knowledge, has no experience running, let alone winning, races in Nevada.

And didn’t McShane run your last two unsuccessful campaigns?

So why should we believe having these two run your campaign means you can win?

The press release goes on to note that “President Donald Trump describes Jim Marchant as a ‘Legendary Businessman.’”

Great.  But again, Trump has lost Nevada twice now.  Why does his quote about your business acumen mean you can win?

Marchant’s release concluded by claiming he lost his congressional race because he was “outspent 3-1 and widespread Democratic coordinated election fraud.”

OK, fine.

But Sen. Rosen’s latest FEC report shows she has over $6 million cash-on-hand already while your campaign finance report show you raised only half-a-million for your race last year.

How are you going to raise enough money to be competitive in a U.S. Senate race?

Now, as for “election fraud”…

You’re killing yourself and every other GOP candidate in the state by continuing to claim “election fraud” that you’ve never documented nor proved.  As such, you come off as a sore loser at best, and a “conspiracy nut” at worst.

If these unfounded claims didn’t get you elected last year, why should we think this is a winning election message for next year?

Maybe you should start all over and run for your old Assembly seat instead.  Let’s see if you can win at that level again rather than constantly failing upwards.

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

“I wish I could legislate what parents do, but I cannot.” – Nevada Democrat Party Chairman and State Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno

“My administration is fighting for school choice in Nevada. We believe that parents know best. We believe that parents should be empowered to make the best education decisions for their children. Let’s start trusting parents.” – Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo

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.