Nevada Presidential Primary: It’s All Over but the Shouting

(Chuck Muth) – Well, the presidential primary votes are in – at least, the early votes and most mail-in ballots.  We won’t know who “won” until after Tuesday’s in-person Election Day ballots are cast and any late mail-in ballots are counted.

But here’s what we DO know…

The Nevada GOP has been a miserable failure – again – when it comes to getting Republican voters to vote early and vote by mail.  Almost 94,000 Democrats have cast ballots so far.  On the other hand, fewer than 68,000 Republicans have voted.

To put this in perspective, the Secretary of State’s office reports that there are just under 646,000 registered Republicans as of the end of January, so GOP turnout right now is just over…10 percent.

Ugh.  So much for the GOP’s vaunted “Bank Your Vote” project – at least in Nevada.

On to the “Chaos Caucus.”  Question constantly posed by Nevada GOP leaders: How did the Nevada Republican Party “rig” its caucus for Trump?

Well, let’s start with this, as reported by Axios this morning…

“Nevada law requires the state to hold a primary if more than two presidential candidates are on the ballot. Nevada’s GOP, led by Trump loyalists, opted to hold the caucuses to award the party’s delegates. 

“That was widely seen as a move to ensure that Trump would win all of the delegates who will help determine the GOP presidential nominee. Republican caucuses typically are attended by the party’s most enthusiastic, MAGA-leaning supporters.”

In addition, much of the rigging has been subtle. Such as the party chairman cheerleading for Trump in speeches and interviews and urging people to vote for him.

Ditto in party leaders regularly criticizing other candidates in the race, such as National Committeewoman Sigal Chattah constantly referring to Nikki Haley as “birdbrain.”

The party also banned Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Mike Pence from participating in the caucus simply because they chose to file in the official Nevada presidential preference primary.

It also has reportedly removed Ron DeSantis’ and Vivek Ramaswamy’s names from the caucus ballot even though they’ve only “suspended” their campaigns and paid the Nevada GOP’s $55,000 “poll tax” to get on the caucus ballot.

But it’s not rigged.  The Nevada GOP has said so.  So it must be true.

Not.

Rigged for Trump or not, Axios is also reporting that the Trump campaign is none too pleased with its Nevada operation.  Some excerpts…

“Donald Trump is virtually assured of winning all 26 of the delegates available in Nevada’s GOP caucuses Thursday, but his team is worried that the state’s plan to hold a primary two days before the caucuses could wind up embarrassing the former president.

“Nevada’s confusing combination of a state-run primary and party-run caucuses has set up a scenario in which Trump could get fewer votes in the caucuses than rival Nikki Haley does in the GOP primary. …

“Trump’s team is concerned that voter turnout in the caucuses might be dwarfed by that of the primary the state is promoting — a scenario that could throw cold water on Trump’s delegate haul.

“Senior Trump advisers became unhappy with the campaign’s state director, Alida Benson — who advocated for Trump to participate in the caucus — after realizing the caucus planning was not coming along as well as they liked, two people familiar with the matter told Axios.

“Caucus sites weren’t finalized until early January, and the Nevada GOP currently only has just one paid full-time staffer. The campaign stands by the plan to skip the primary and take part in the caucuses.

“But the sources said that when it became clear that Nevada’s GOP and the party in Clark County were not well-equipped to run the caucuses, the campaign blamed Benson for not activating volunteers and dragging the campaign into a chaotic process.”

Everything’s fine. Nothing to see here.  Move along.  What an embarrassment.

Save the Date for Conservative Awards Dinner

It’s now scheduled for Wednesday night, May 1, 2024.  So please pencil it in now.

7 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

“The bizarre set-up means that Nevada Republicans will be asked to vote in a primary on 6 February and then in caucuses two days later to choose their party’s nominee. … The Nevada Republican party created the chaotic scheme, changing its nomination rules last year, in what many say is a thinly veiled effort to benefit Trump. The changes have made Nevada’s GOP nomination in the primary essentially irrelevant and left voters confused.” – The Guardian, 2/4/24

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.