Nevada's 2nd Congressional District is about as safe a Republican seat as there is. A Democrat has never won it.
With 27 candidates in the race, I wasn't invested.
The seat was going Republican. The dust would settle, the right person would emerge, and we'd move on.
I knew James Settelmeyer had jumped in. Four years in the Assembly, 12 years in the State Senate, and a tenure as director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources under Governor Joe Lombardo. The man has a long record.
Governor Lombardo and retiring Congressman Mark Amodei have both thrown their full support behind him.
Settelmeyer himself put it plainly when he filed:
“I am in the Republican primary, the only person with legislative experience 16 years, I've worked in the majority, I worked in the minority.”
That's a straightforward pitch. Show me your resume. Let voters decide.
I also knew David Flippo was in the race. Flippo is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from Las Vegas.
In 2022, he ran for Nevada Assembly District 37 and lost, coming in third out of three Republicans in his primary. He then ran for Congress in CD4 in 2024 and lost that primary, too. So, he decided to run for the seat again.
Then Amodei announced his retirement, and Flippo switched to CD2, a district he doesn't even live in:
“after a series of conversations with MAGA leaders, both in Washington and in Nevada.”
He has leaned heavily on self-funding and national outsider endorsements rather than any record of service in northern Nevada.
Three races. Three districts. Zero wins. And he's here to tell us James Settelmeyer isn't conservative enough.
The Smear Machine Fires Up
First came the misleading memes. Nevada Young Republicans were circulating attack graphics claiming Settelmeyer “voted to fund Planned Parenthood,” “gave driver's licenses to illegals,” “supported DEI quotas,” voted for the Equal Rights Amendment, and “voted for open primaries.”
The images made him sound like a Democrat.
The actual record tells a very different story — and in at least one case, the attack is built on a vote that simply never happened.
The meme claims Settelmeyer voted for SB 103 in 2017. That bill never got a floor vote. It was Aaron Ford, then a Democratic senator, who didn't give the bill a hearing. The meme accuses Settelmeyer of voting for something that Aaron Ford helped kill.
The rest don't hold up either:
- SB 94 in 2019 did not earmark funds directly for Planned Parenthood.
- SB 303 in 2013 created driver authorization cards that require a test and, most importantly: insurance. This is not a valid ID — it passed the Senate 20-1.
- SB 267 in 2021 directed a study on workforce diversity. No quotas. No mandates. Reporting only.
- SJR 8 (Equal Rights Amendment, 2019) passed the Nevada Senate 18-3. Most of the Republican caucus voted yes — right alongside Settelmeyer.
Then David Flippo took the stage at CPAC and repeated many of those same misleading talking points.
Flippo used his time on stage at CPAC to parrot the same misleading talking points about his opponent.
Congress requires judgment.
Not just a script. https://t.co/1eAIxftqxk pic.twitter.com/29iSIogHYY— BrutalBrittany💕 (@BrutalBrittany2) April 1, 2026
At that point, the race had my full attention.
What Settelmeyer Actually Did
In 2019, Settelmeyer sued the Democrat-controlled legislature over tax extensions — sunset rates that were supposed to expire but got extended on a simple majority vote instead of the required two-thirds supermajority.
Settelmeyer called the Legislative Counsel Bureau's legal opinion justifying the move a:
“work of legal fiction.”
The case — Legislature of Nevada v. Settelmeyer — went to the Nevada Supreme Court.
The court concluded that the subject bills were unconstitutional because they created, generated, or increased public revenue without passing by the required two-thirds majority in the Senate.
He won. The constitution was enforced. That's what a limited-government fighter actually looks like.
And the 2015 commerce tax? The one some critics – such as former Assemblyman John Moore – claim he was mysteriously given a “pass” on? Senate Republicans who opposed the final bill included Pete Goicoechea, James Settelmeyer, and Don Gustavson.
He voted no. The record is clear.
The receipts don't stop there.
The Nevada Policy Research Institute — one of the state's most respected limited-government think tanks — named Settelmeyer a “Taxpayer Friendly Lawmaker of 2019” for his vocal opposition to the fiscal impact of collective bargaining on Nevada taxpayers.
Then in 2021, NPRI gave him an 88% score on their legislative report card, which grades lawmakers on economic freedom and fiscal responsibility. You don't score 88% with the state's premier free-market watchdog by being a closet liberal.
Yet, the meme artists don't mention any of that.
Who's Behind the Attacks?
The cast of characters behind this smear campaign tells you everything you need to know. And they all sound exactly alike.
If it walks like a bot and talks like a bot, you have to wonder.
It starts with Wayne Allyn Root. Root posted on Facebook:
“James Settelmeyer just filed in NV-02. Classic RINO move. In the Nevada Senate he voted for (the) Equal Rights Amendment, increased taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, backed DEI quotas, preserved Obamacare mandates & supported ranked choice voting & open primaries. Don't be fooled. Another RINO loser!”
We already established those claims as wildly misleading.
Lombardo called Root out publicly at the Clark County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner, saying:
“Thank you, Wayne. Look at him. He looks like a… mannequin. What an awesome guy. What an awesome spokesperson for the Republican Party.”
The room knew exactly what he meant.
Then came Laura Loomer.
Loomer jumped into the fight, blasting the Lombardo and Amodei endorsements and igniting backlash from parts of the MAGA base. Loomer is a Florida-based internet personality with a long history of promoting conspiracy theories and attacking fellow Republicans.
Taking shots at a sitting Nevada governor over a congressional primary in a seat that has never gone Democratic isn't conservative activism. It's reckless.
Then there's John Moore, a former assemblyman with his own colorful history. Moore was first elected to the Assembly as a Republican in 2014 and switched to the Libertarian Party in January 2016.
The Libertarian Party of Nevada unanimously censured him in 2016 for supporting two tax increases — including a yes vote on the $2 billion taxpayer-funded Raiders stadium.
What's striking isn't just that these attacks are false. It's that they're identical.
Root posted it. Loomer amplified it. Moore told ghost stories. And, Flippo took it to the CPAC stage.
The same copy-paste smear is circulating through conservative corners of the internet like a chain email.
Real conservatives do their homework. They don't just pass along whatever talking points land in their feed.
Settelmeyer Responds
Settelmeyer stepped down Monday from his role as director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources — a position he held under Governor Lombardo since 2023. The move was straightforward to avoid any appearance of conflict between his appointed role and his congressional campaign.
On his time serving under the governor, Settelmeyer tells NN&V:
“I greatly appreciated working for Governor Lombardo.”
He called the people he worked with “the salt of the Earth.” On the tone of the primary, he didn't mince words:
“It's sad to see CD2 devolve into mudslinging,”
But, Settlemeyer tells NN&V that he is staying above the fray and trusts the voters of CD2:
“the people will decide, and I have faith that the people will see past all of this.”
That's a pretty measured response from a man whose record has been deliberately distorted.
What You Can Do
James Settelmeyer is a fourth-generation Nevada rancher who spent 16 years fighting for limited government, voted against the largest tax hike in Nevada history, and took the Democrat legislature to court over unconstitutional tax extensions.
David Flippo has a military record worth respecting. But military service doesn't automatically translate into conservative governance — and a record of switching races, losing elections, and repeating misleading attacks from a national conference stage isn't the résumé northern Nevada needs in Congress.
The June 9 primary will decide this race. In a field this crowded, turnout is everything. Get informed. Know the actual voting records — not the meme versions— and share the facts with your neighbors.
If you believe limited government means more than a bumper sticker, the candidate who has actually fought for it — in the legislature, and in the courts when it mattered — is James Settelmeyer.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
