UPDATE: Battle Born Battlefield 2020

Announcements, rumors, gossip and word on the street about the 2020 campaigns in Nevada…

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Congressional District 2:  Some folks in DC are mulling a primary challenge to Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, arguing that he’s not as conservative as he could be in this GOP-majority district.

Um, hello?  Mark’s the ONLY Republican left in Nevada’s congressional delegation.  As such, why would we give up the seniority and influence he’s built up in DC and replace him with a freshman?  This makes no sense whatsoever.

Mark is also a former GOP party chairman and, unlike many fellow Republican elected officials, has actually been SUPPORTIVE of the party.

In addition, unlike a number of former GOP elected officials who threw Donald Trump under the bus in 2016 (hello, Brian Sandoval and Dean Heller), Mark was the president’s Nevada state campaign chairman and never wavered in his support.

It would be foolish to go after Mark in 2020.  Let’s nip this one in the bud.

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Congressional District 3: I met this morning with a VERY promising potential GOP candidate to take on Rep. Susie Lee (D-Pelosi) next year.

But as of right now the only person who has publicly sort of announced his candidacy is former State Treasurer Dan Schwartz – though he said last month in an interview he still had to take a “cold shower” before making a final decision.

Oy.  Let’s hope it’s an ICE-cold shower, because it would be a disaster for the GOP if Schwartz is the nominee in this toss-up district.  A refresher…

In 2012 he ran for Congressional District 4.  Raised only $38,865.  Lost the Republican primary; coming in FOURTH with just 11 percent of the vote.  Heck, even gadfly Ken Wegner beat him!

He then ran for and won the State Treasurer race in the “red wave” election of 2014 where pretty much any Republican with a pulse won.  He barely raised $75K for that race.

In 2018 – instead of running for re-election and likely saving the seat for Republicans – Schwartz got his nose bent out of shape and decided to soften up GOP gubernatorial nominee Adam Laxalt for the Democrats with a foolhardy, self-serving primary challenge.

He raised just over $6,500 – and garnered only 9 percent of the vote.

Whether with their donations or their votes, Nevada Republicans have spoken loudly and quite clearly: They DON’T like Dan Schwartz.  He should take the hint.

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Assembly District 37: On Monday, Republican Michelle Mortensen – who ran for CD3 last year – officially announced that she’s running for the AD-37 seat in Las Vegas.

This is a swing seat that had been held by a Republican until last year when the incumbent forgot to win re-election.

For more info, visit: www.MichelleMortensen.com

I’m also hearing that former Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) chief Andy Matthews – another former CD3 candidate (2016) who worked on Laxalt’s gubernatorial campaign last year – is also mulling a run for that seat.

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Las Vegas City Council Ward 2:  There’s an old saying about roosters taking undeserved credit for the sun rising.  Well, the Nevada GOP has the political equivalent.

Communication Director Keith Schipper – fresh off helping to tank former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller’s re-election campaign last November – sent out an email last week taking credit for Republican Victoria Seaman’s victory in the LVCC Ward 2 special election.

In a morning-after email fundraising pitch, Skippy wrote…

“I wanted to write you a quick note and keep you updated about the major victory we had last night!  We just picked up a critical City Council seat in liberal Las Vegas where Republicans took 58% of the vote in a race to replace a Democrat!  This just goes to show that even in a town looking more like California every day … our grassroots efforts are working!”

Boy, he sure does love exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reality check: Skippy had absolutely NO involvement in this Ward 2 race whatsoever.

Indeed, it wasn’t the party’s “grassroots efforts” that won this seat.  It was Victoria – whose name Skippy insultingly didn’t even bother to mention in his money pitch – and her CAMPAIGN’S grassroots efforts that won this seat.

On the other hand, I did hear Skippy had a hand in inventing the Internet with Al Gore.