Tarkanian Announces GOP Challenge to Repeal & Replace Heller

(Danny Tarkanian) – It is no wonder that people hold politicians in such low esteem.

If we elect candidates who tell us lies and are deceitful when they are running for office, why should we expect them not to lie and deceive us after they are elected?

Over the past several weeks, I had many people – literally hundreds – contact me and ask me to please run against Dean Heller. They expressed their frustration with Senator Heller, and all the other politicians, who promise one thing when they are running for office and then do the exact opposite in Washington DC.

This morning, I announced my campaign for United States Senate on Fox News. 

My inspirations for running for public office were Senators Paul Laxalt and Richard Bryan, one a Republican, the other a Democrat. They were true statesmen. Public servants with rock solid convictions who kept their word.

I am running for United States Senate because Dean Heller turned his back on Nevada since he became a US Senator.  He campaigned across our state on the basis of repealing Obamacare, being pro-life, and generally conservative on the issues.

Unfortunately, he simply changed in Washington DC.  Conservatives now refer to him as DC’s Dean Heller rather than Nevada’s Dean Heller.

He campaigned in Nevada for US Senate in 2012 on a platform of repealing Obamacare.

He voted for a clean Obamacare repeal in 2015 when he knew that President Obama would veto it.

However, when the same bill came up for a vote just two years later – in 2017 – and President Trump was eager to sign the repeal, he voted against it.

The bill didn’t change in those two years.

Dean Heller changed.

He now seems to care more about voting with Republican liberals in Washington DC like Susan Collins than with conservative voters here in Nevada.

He campaigned like he was pro-life, and now works (promises) to fund Planned Parenthood.

Now it is time to hold him accountable.

Deciding to run for US Senate was a difficult decision. I would have a very good chance to win if I were to run for congress.  I thought about this decision long and hard. My wife gave me valuable input.

I kept remembering a conversation I had had with my late father in 2009. He just had major surgery and was being released from the hospital. He said to me, “You are going to run for office aren’t you? When I said yes, he said, “for what”. I told him I didn’t want to say because it might cause him to have a heart attack and go back into the hospital.

He laughed and said, “You are going to run for the US Senate against Harry Reid, aren’t you.” I asked him why he would say that.  Reid was the Majority Leader and I was not even in office. He said, “Because you are a competitor and you have never backed down from a challenge, and I am so proud of you.”

I remember that today on what would have been my father’s 87^th birthday.

Well, there is no bigger challenge, nor more important cause than replacing Dean Heller with a true conservative who will keep his word. 

I lost the election in 2016 by 1%.  The political operatives in Washington DC pressured me to distance myself from Donald Trump and his supporters.  I wasn’t willing to do that, and I don’t regret it for a minute.

I was taught the value of teamwork, and I am proudly on the team of President Trump and conservatives across Nevada who support the repeal of Obamacare, ending sanctuary cities, defunding planned parenthood, and the economic policies that have led to a 20% increase in the stock market in just six months.

On the other hand, Dean Heller was one of Nevada’s first “Never Trumpers” helping Hillary Clinton win the state. Now he is obstructing our President’s America First agenda.

He promised to repeal Obamacare and voted to do so when he knew President Obama would veto the bill. However, now that he is up for re-election he voted against the same bill.

Heller has strongly advocated giving citizenship to illegal immigrants. Now that he is up for re-election, he claims he is against Sanctuary Cities.

Heller was against Planned Parenthood, and then he was for it. In a recent Town Hall, he was caught on tape promising to protect Planned Parenthood funding.

The only thing we know for sure about where Dean Heller stands is that he cares more about the liberals in Washington DC than about conservatives in Nevada.

Conservatives are at a crossroads.  Do we sit down and say nothing while politicians like Dean Heller turn their back on us, or do we take a stand and do what is right for our country?

I think it’s time to take a stand and do what is right for our country.