Nevada’s Top Dems Can’t Stop Calling Each Other Liars Long Enough to Tell You the Truth
Wednesday night, Nevada got treated to something genuinely entertaining.
Two of the state’s most powerful Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and State Treasurer Zach Conine, sat down for what was supposed to be a serious, substantive debate about who should be Nevada’s next attorney general.
What we actually got was an hour of two politicians telling us, in excruciating detail, exactly why the other one is a corrupt, donor-soaked, integrity-challenged disaster.
And folks, I believe every word they said about each other.
Let’s Talk About the Money, Because They Sure Did
At one point, the moderators asked both candidates point-blank: Is your opponent’s integrity compromised by their big-dollar donors?
Cannizzaro didn’t blink. “Absolutely,” she said about Conine.
And why? Because Conine has taken more than $2 million from one guy. One. Guy.
His name is Jeffrey Berns. He’s a wealthy tech entrepreneur who once tried to build a self-governing blockchain city in the Nevada desert.
No, I’m not making that up. The city never happened. The $2 million kept coming anyway.
Conine hit back even harder.
He said Cannizzaro’s integrity “was compromised well before” she ever started cashing payday lender checks.
Payday lenders, by the way, have pumped nearly $100,000 into her campaigns. She also took donations from people who fought to keep puppy mills legal in Nevada.
Let me say that again. Puppy mills.
And NV Energy, Nevada’s favorite monopoly utility, has given Cannizzaro nearly three times what they gave Conine. Almost $100,000 worth of “friendship.”
So to recap: one candidate is bankrolled by a guy who tried to build a crypto city in the desert. The other is cozy with payday loan companies and the people who want to keep puppy mills running.
These are your choices, Nevada Democrats. Enjoy.
Oh, And There’s More
Conine also dug up the fact that Cannizzaro, back in the early 2010s, represented a bank tied to thousands of Nevada foreclosures.
The bank was owned by Steve Mnuchin. Yes, that Steve Mnuchin. Trump’s former treasury secretary.
Cannizzaro defended herself by saying she only worked there for less than a year and didn’t control which cases she got.
Which, fine. But “I was just following orders” has never been a great look.
Cannizzaro fired back by pointing out that Conine attended an “America Loves Crypto” rally in 2024 and calling cryptocurrency a “Republican-coded” issue.
She actually said that. Republican-coded. Like crypto is a secret handshake for conservatives because some of us prefer not to have the government track every dollar we spend.
The irony of a Democrat lecturing anyone about being too close to Republicans was apparently lost on her.
What They Agree On (Buckle Up)
Both candidates agreed they’ll fight Trump’s immigration enforcement. Both oppose the death penalty. Both want to kill Nevada’s summary eviction law.
And both are voting no on the voter ID initiative this fall.
So wherever this race ends up, Nevada conservatives aren’t getting a friend in that office. Not even close.
This race is the most expensive Democratic primary in Nevada this cycle. There’s no clear front-runner. Both candidates are dragging around serious donor baggage.
And they spent an entire hour on live television explaining exactly why the other one can’t be trusted.
You know what? For once, I think they’re both right.
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