Don't Coronate the Carpetbagger Yet – Trump's Guy Is Getting Crushed in Alabama
There's a dangerous rumor spreading that the 2nd Congressional District GOP primary is already over after Trump’s endorsement of Dave Flippo.
It's not. Let me tell you about Alabama.
Right now, in the Alabama Republican U.S. Senate runoff, former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson is leading Trump-endorsed Congressman Barry Moore by nearly 10 points!
The race is June 16 and professional pollsters are confidently calling it for Hudson.
Alabama Republicans aren’t throwing Trump overboard. They’re not rejecting his agenda. Indeed, Trump's approval among Alabama Republicans in the same poll is 83%.
Yes, his endorsement still carries enormous weight. But endorsements don't cast ballots. People do.
Alabama Republicans looked at Moore and have decided that whatever Trump saw in him, they saw something different.
Sound familiar?
Dave Flippo has run – unsuccessfully – for office in Las Vegas three times, including in CD4 earlier this year until apparently the math didn't pencil out.
So he packed up and moved to northern Nevada three months ago.
THREE MONTHS!
“I have jars of mayonnaise in the back of my refrigerator that have been in Northern Nevada longer than David Flippo,” deadpanned his GOP primary opponent, former State Sen. James Settelmeyer, in an interview today.
Settelmeyer has spent his entire political career representing northern Nevada.
He knows the water issues, the land issues, the mining issues, the ranching issues, and the small business issues – from Lake Tahoe to West Wendover to Ely and everywhere in between.
He didn't just discover northern Nevada when a congressional seat opened up.
And know this: Not voting for Flippo doesn’t mean you don’t like Trump, just as not liking mushrooms on your pizza doesn’t mean you don’t like pizza.
Flippo’s a mushroom.
Northern Nevada MAGA voters who support Settelmeyer aren't abandoning the president's agenda. They're simply asking why a Las Vegas transplant who's been there three months should represent them in Congress?
That's not disloyalty. That's exactly the kind of independent thinking that built our battleground state.
But the biggest threat to Settelmeyer right now isn't Trump’s endorsement of Flippo.
It's conservative Republicans in Reno, Elko, Winnemucca, Carson City, and Ely deciding their vote doesn't matter because the fix is in.
That's how self-fulfilling prophecies work in politics.
You believe it's over, you stay home, and then it IS over. Result? You hand your seat to an opportunistic Las Vegas carpetbagger instead of a lifelong Douglas County rancher.
Don't do that.
Alabama Republicans aren’t doing that.
They’ve looked past the Trump endorsement, evaluated the candidates on their merits, and they're about to send a Navy SEAL to the U.S. Senate over a sitting congressman.
Northern Nevada Republicans can do the same thing.
Trump will be just fine either way. His agenda moves forward either way. After all, Settelmeyer was Trump’s Nevada state co-chair in the 2020 re-election campaign.
The only question is whether northern Nevada sends its own guy to Washington – someone who knows the difference between a branding iron and a curling iron – or a Vegas carpet-bagger who moved north three months ago because he couldn't win down south.
The election is June 9. It’s not over. Not even close. Get out and vote like it.
P.S. James is hosting a meet-and-greet in Reno this afternoon where he’ll again officially sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
It’d be great if y’all could pack the house and let him know you’re not throwing in the towel.
4:30pm – 6:30pm
Nevada Trucking Association Office
8745 Technology Way
Reno, NV 89521
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