Indy Elections: The lopsided congressional cash contest
Indy Elections is The Nevada Independent’s newsletter devoted to comprehensive and accessible coverage of the 2024 elections, from the race for the White House to the bid to take control of the Legislature.
In today’s edition: A look at whether congressional Democrats continued their fundraising advantages in the third quarter. Plus, exploring the Assembly speaker’s ties to an attack ad, and a new way the state is trying to encourage voting.
A few reminders: Ballots are arriving. To help you fill yours out, The Nevada Independent has been laying out the stances of candidates in congressional races and key legislative races, explaining the state’s seven ballot questions and profiling both candidates in the Las Vegas mayoral election.
You can also find our election guide here.
If you are not registered to vote, click here to do so — the deadline to register online and receive a mail ballot is Oct. 22. Nevadans can also register to vote online or in person before casting a ballot through the close of polls on Election Day.
A programming note: It’s mid-October, which means that (along with October surprise season), it’s also campaign finance report season.
We had hoped to give you a look at the money breakdown for key legislative races and ballot questions, but a bunch of reports suddenly disappeared from the Nevada Secretary of State’s website after they had been filed.
Wait, what?
On Tuesday night, the office made a database error, resulting in IT staff having to revert the system back to where it was two hours earlier — erasing reports filed in that period. Later on Wednesday, the system was able to add the reports that were erased without them having to be refiled.
We hope to fill you in on the legislative fundraising details later this week.
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We want to hear from you! Send us your questions, comments, observations, jokes or what you think we should be covering or paying attention to. Email your newsletter editor Tabitha Mueller at tabitha@thenvindy.com.
By the Numbers:
- 2 days until early voting begins
- 19 days until Election Day (it’s fine, everything is fine)
- 109 days until the 83rd legislative session
Dems keep up leads in congressional fundraising
By Eric Neugeboren
Democrats have led all cycle in fundraising for Nevada’s congressional contests — and the third quarter was no different.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) raised about $12 million, while Republican Sam Brown raked in about $8.5 million — by far the best performances to date for both.
In Southern Nevada’s three U.S. House races, Democrats wielded significant financial advantages, even as all three Republicans loaned money to their own campaigns. And in the state’s lone Republican-held House seat, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), is lagging far behind in the solid red Congressional District 2, thanks to independent Greg Kidd lending his campaign $4 million.
We wish we could tell you this is some earth-shattering news — but it isn’t. With the exception of the Senate race, national Republicans have essentially ignored Nevada, as they seek to avoid their mistakes of 2022 when spending millions of dollars resulted in no seat pickups.
As a result, Democrats have been able to dominate the airwaves all cycle — and, according to polls and forecasting, they don’t seem to be in much danger of losing any seats.
Read here for a closer look at the finances.
What we’re reading and writing
As Nevada youth vote grows to a quarter of electorate, campaigns hope to improve margins by Gabby Birenbaum
“I believe the children are the future”
On the Record: Senate District 11 candidates Dallas Harris and Lori Rogich by Tabitha Mueller
Democratic incumbent seeks to retain seat despite missing out on Culinary’s endorsement. What else is new?
Nevada’s Election Oracle Says His Crystal Ball Is Broken by Benjamin Hart, New York Magazine
The Boss speaks.
Democrats behind ads attacking GOP lawmaker from the right
A PAC tied to Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) bankrolled attack ads that — ironically — criticize Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) for not being conservative enough, campaign finance reports show.
The Democrat-aligned Nevada Strong PAC gave $80,000 across a three-week span in September to a group called Ending Carson City Corruption, which launched in August. The donations made up all of Ending Carson City Corruption’s fundraising haul from July through September.
This month, Ending Carson City Corruption launched an ad accusing Kasama of being a RINO (“Republican in Name Only”), an apparent effort to sway Republicans in the solid red Assembly District 2. It has also released ads that say Kasama “is no conservative, and your family deserves better.” Kasama has been the PAC’s only target.
The Better Nevada PAC, a group affiliated with Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, accused Yeager of targeting Kasama about her proposed reforms to increase transparency in the Legislature, though the ads did not mention this effort. The proposal includes publishing legislation 72 hours before final approval, adhering to the open meeting law, mandating public disclosure of conflicts of interest and allowing the governor to issue line-item vetoes on appropriations requests.
Kasama also linked the ads to her proposal, saying in a post Wednesday that she has “become the target of misinformation and attacks by the opposing party” because of her push for more transparency and that she was “especially disappointed” that Yeager’s PAC bankrolled the ads.
In an email Wednesday, Yeager said he does not operate End Carson City Corruption or instruct it on how to spend its money. He also said his decision to support the group has nothing to do with Kasama’s proposal and that he cannot take a position on it until it is an official bill.
Yeager also accused Kasama of spreading “misinformation” about the legislative process — pointing out the requirement that a bill be read three times on three different days, an apparent reference to her proposal to require publishing legislation three days before final passage.
He also provided a list of reasons he wants the seat to turn blue, highlighting Kasama’s support of a slew of Republican priorities, and said “she is nothing more than a rubber stamp for Governor Lombardo.”
— Eric Neugeboren
The Lightning Round
📱SOS launches election text message campaign — The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office launched a text message campaign Tuesday that will remind registered voters how to participate in the election. The first text message touted the state’s elections as “more safe, secure, and accessible than ever” and includes a link for people to check or update their voter registration.
⛽ Marchant spends big at the pump — Republican Jim Marchant, who lost a bid for U.S. Senate in the June primary, reported on his October campaign finance report that he spent $2,700 on mileage in August. It seems the proud election denier is riding off into the sunset.
😡 NV Dems condemn GOP lawsuits — The Nevada Democratic Party held a virtual press conference Wednesday to denounce Nevada Republicans’ (so far, failed) efforts to litigate the state’s elections systems. Attorney Bradley Schrager said it is particularly concerning that GOP groups criticize judges after they lose their cases, which he thinks is “the preparation of an environment for disobeying … or disregarding judicial authority in judicial orders.” The Republican National Committee has lost all of its Nevada lawsuits so far this year, with one still waiting to be decided and the others in various stages of appeal, while another conservative group voluntarily withdrew three suits this week related to challenging voters’ eligibility.
— Eric Neugeboren
Looking Ahead
- Friday, Oct. 18: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown is doing a live interview with The Nevada Independent at IndyFest. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) had declined an offer to have a debate at the event, although they will face off in a televised debate the night before.
- Saturday, Oct. 19: Former President Barack Obama is holding a rally to stump for Harris and down-ballot Democrats and encourage voters to participate in early voting.
- Saturday, Oct. 19: The Civic Responsibility Project, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, will host a Party to the Polls on the day early voting begins in Las Vegas.
— Tabitha Mueller
And to ease you into the week, a couple “posts” to “X” that caught our eye:
We’ll see you next week.
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