NYT: Nevada may go Republican red for midterms

The expected GOP wave in the upcoming midterm elections may sweep up Nevada, a state where Republican presidential nominees have not won since George W. Bush in 2004, according to a new analysis.

Blake Hounshell, editor of The New York Time’s On Politics newsletter, warned that the strong Republicans expected to win the GOP primaries on Tuesday will tough opponents for Democrats weighed down by President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings.

He cited the state’s economic struggles as the key reason for a Democratic loss, noting that Nevada’s unemployment rate hit 28.5% in April 2020 as pandemic lockdowns smothered its tourism industry.

Catherine Cortez Masto (D), the first Latina to serve in the U.S. Senate, has been targeted by Republicans as a vulnerable seat as more and more Hispanic voters turn to the GOP.

His opponent will likely be Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who is polling well ahead of his top opponent, retired Army captain Sam Brown. Laxalt led Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Nevada, and his grandfather, Paul Laxalt, served as both governor and senator in the state.

Hounshell also described the state of Nevada’s three Democrat-held House seats as “on fire,” as they are all rated as “Democratic tossups” by The Cook Political Report.

Rep. Susie Lee won by only 13,000 votes in 2020, and Rep. Steven Horsford admitted to an affair while he was majority leader in the Nevada state senate. The mistress, who was fifteen years his junior, hosted a podcast “audio memoir” of the affair titled “Mistress for Congress” under a pseudonym.

Rep. Dina Titus’s safe Las Vegas district had some of its voters spread across the two other seats by state Democrats and faces a tough primary challenge from Amy Vilela, a progressive activist backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Pollster Mike Noble warned that a sweep was possible, but “a lot of things would need to go right for the GOP… since the Democrats have the advantage of incumbency.”

Nevada was also home to the late Senator and former majority leader Harry Reid, who build out a powerful fundraising machine for Democrats in the state.