(Chuck Muth) – Acknowledging that ballots will still be arriving and counted until the end of today, it’s not too soon to acknowledge that Nevada Republicans – with few exceptions, especially Trump – got taken to the cleaners once again.
The GOP again lost the U.S. Senate seat and all three Democrat-held congressional seats.
In the state Senate, Republicans will lose one seat and gain one seat for a net of zero. At least they won’t be in a super-minority.
In the state Assembly, Republicans will flip just one seat in an election cycle where all of the GOP candidates in competitive races were top-notch.
Republicans SHOULD have picked up at least 3-5 seats. They didn’t. At least they got the one they needed to get out of the super-minority.
But, oh, what a blown opportunity!
Yet again.
This makes five failed election cycles in a row since Republicans won majorities in both legislative houses in 2014 – only to p*ss them away by passing the largest tax hike in Nevada history.
Ugh. But…onward.
If you’re thinking of running in 2026 – and no, it’s not too soon – here are the three “Muth’s Truths” I open my Campaign Boot Camp with that I strongly suggest you keep in mind…
1.) It’s not the best candidate who wins, but the best campaign.
Again, the candidates for the most competitive legislative seats this cycle were all AAA-plus. But there obviously were serious problems with their campaigns.
Trump won Nevada going away. But it didn’t translate down ballot to state and local races. Here’s why…
2.) Campaigns are not about politics, they’re about marketing.
Trump is a marketing ninja. He knows how to tap into the deepest hopes and fears of voters.
But the campaign messaging from Senate candidate Sam Brown on down relied on standard, stale, boring, run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter, soundbite messaging – and obviously to the wrong audience.
And once again, too many candidates relied too much on door-knocking activities.
“We knocked on 10,000 doors!”
Great. But, um, you still lost. Maybe the message being delivered to the door was wrong? Blind door-knocking without a winning message ain’t gonna get you anywhere.
Most of the losing candidates knocked the hell out of doors…and still lost. Door-knocking simply is no substitute for a winning message, a winning strategy, and robust fundraising.
Don’t take my word for it. Just look at the dismal results.
In addition, candidate after candidate blew off press interviews – likely at the urging of their consultants – even with friendly media! This is insane, especially for underfunded challenger candidates.
If consultants are afraid their candidates are ill-prepared to talk to reporters…THEN GET THEM PREPARED. “So-and-so candidate did not respond” is foolish. Free media can help make up for a lack of paid media.
Trump probably got over a billion dollars’ worth of “free” media. And not just on FOX. Over and over again he went into the lion’s den – including the black journalists’ convention.
And then there’s FREE Internet and social media – which consultants generally hate because they can’t make money off it.
Sam Brown was among the worst. Everyone KNEW he was going to be wildly outspent. But unlike Trump, he didn’t make effective use of social media and the Internet – especially Twitter/X.
Consider this from Democrat strategist Van Jones last night…
“We got beat because the Republicans and the conservatives built a different media system that had to do with online, had to do with podcasts, had to do with streaming platforms.
“We were making fun of Donald Trump for having thrown away his ground game and doing some weird stuff online. We thought that they were idiots. It turned out we were the idiots.
“We woke up in a body bag because while we were knocking on doors, they were making these (cell) phones into 24 hour a day political weapons for themselves. We got outflanked, outplayed, out beat.”
Indeed. As Elon Musk wrote this morning, “You are the media now.”
But I had a Nevada consultant tell me last winter that social media, email newsletters, blogs, and internet campaigning weren’t “real” campaigning. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Which leads me to conclude this mini-rant with Muth’s Truths #3 from Campaign Boot Camp…
3.) There’s more incompetence in the field of political consulting than in any field other than TV psychiatry.
Again, Republicans in Nevada didn’t lose because of bad candidates. This was the finest group of candidates I’ve seen across the board in three decades in this biz. They were let down. Big time.
The problem is the consultants. If Republicans don’t fix that, they’ll remain sucking hind teat in election cycle after election cycle and will continue to never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.
Sigh.
X MARKS THE SPOT
- Chills: I’ve watched this three times and still can’t get enough! X
- Conservative leaders endorse Sen. Rick Scott for Senate Leader. X
- These are some of the most brutal jokes Gutfeld has ever told and I’m loving every second! X
- Trump: Here’s my plan to dismantle the deep state. X
- Trump is already solving the border crisis. X
- Trump is already solving the Hamas crisis. X
- Megyn Kelly just eviscerated Beyonce, Oprah, JLo, and Taylor Swift. X
- THIS is the token “conservative” columnist for WaPo. X
- Nobody gets under libtards skins like Scott Jennings. X
- This is the best video you will see today. X
- The White dudes for Harris are devastated. X
- Day 3 of The View having an absolute meltdown. I can watch this all day. X
- I’m going to put this video in a time capsule, open it up in 20 years, and laugh my ass off again. X
- Lord, I hope the Democrats DON’T listen to this Dem strategist. X
- Best election reaction yet. X
- She WINS internet today. Hilarious trolling of insane libs. X
- Soros DA George Gascon routed in Los Angeles. X
- San Francisco Mayor London Breed has officially been voted out of office. X
- Horrific scene: This isn’t a “dog” – it’s a pit bull. X
- I have no idea what is happening here, but it is the best thing I’ve seen today! X
- New York squirrels are training, they have become radicalized. X
- Donald Trump showing up to the Middle East after a 4-year absence. X
- I’m Dying…Disgraced former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen getting trolled during livestream. X
- A Day Without Steve Inman is a Day Without Sunshine. X
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Trump is driving liberal women to pledge ABSTINENCE. This means fewer liberal children, fewer ugly children, and fewer abortions. Sexual abstinence on the part of the Left is a trend we should encourage.” – Dinesh D’Souza
“The right needs to learn from — and guard against — what happened to the left. We can’t allow the lunatics on our side who try to speak for us to become mainstream voices of conservatism. They will destroy our movement the way the radical leftists destroyed the Democratic party.” – Seth Dillon
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.