Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rep. Mark Amodei endorses Mitt Romney

One day after a local poll affirmed Mitt Romney’s dominance among presidential hopefuls in Nevada, another prominent state Republican, Rep. Mark Amodei, is endorsing the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign.

Amodei, who was elected to Congress just last month, threw his support behind Romney in a statement echoing what’s emerged as Romney’s leading quality in this race: electability.

“The economy is in crisis and President Obama's fixes are not working. A change of leadership is needed and Mitt Romney is the conservative best equipped to rally Republicans, independents and Democrats behind a new, competent direction for the Silver State's and America's economic future,” Amodei said in a statement released by the Romney campaign this morning. “Nevada's 2nd Congressional District has been hit harder than much of the country and we need a president that is committed to helping Nevada small business owners grow, prosper and create new jobs. I'm proud to endorse Mitt Romney for president and look forward to working with him to get our country and our community back to work.”

Amodei, who chaired the state GOP up until he ran for Congress, is the third Nevada Republican in higher office to endorse Romney, joining Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and Rep. Joe Heck, who lent their endorsements to Romney over the summer.

Gov. Brian Sandoval has endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry; Sen. Dean Heller hasn’t endorsed anyone yet.

Amodei went to Washington in mid-September, after defeating Democrat Kate Marshall in a special election to fill out the rest of Heller’s term in the House of Representatives; Heller left the House for the Senate last May, when Sandoval appointed him to serve out the remainder of John Ensign’s term, after Ensign resigned in the midst of an ethics scandal.

Amodei, who is running to defend that seat in 2012, endorsed Romney on the same day as he solidified his congressional portfolio for the remainder of this term: he was appointed Wednesday to serve on the House Natural Resources Committee, a position he’d been angling from the day he arrived in Congress.

Amodei’s also serves on two other committees: Veterans’ Affairs (Amodei is himself an Army veteran) and the Judiciary committee, which handles various legal and regulatory affairs.

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