Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Challenger running Horsford ad featuring Obama in rural Nevada

Cresent Hardy and Steven Horsford

Sun Staff

Republican congressional nominee Cresent Hardy, left, is running against Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford in the November general election.

Rep. Steven Horsford is getting free help sharing one of his newest political ads — from Republican challenger Cresent Hardy.

In an attempt to rally North Las Vegas Democrats to the polls, Horsford’s campaign released a radio ad Thursday narrated by President Barack Obama. Hardy turned the ad right around and paid to air it in the rural sections of the district.

Hardy and Horsford are locked in a tight race to represent Nevada’s newest — and most diverse — congressional district. It stretches from North Las Vegas through rural central Nevada. Obama is popular in the African American urban areas of the district and unpopular most everywhere else.

Hardy’s version of Horsford’s radio ad is exactly the same, except instead of Horsford’s voice approving the message, Hardy gives the OK.

Repurposing the entire ad, verbatim, is legal under public domain laws, say campaign operatives from both parties.

The race to represent Congressional District 4, formed in 2012 to accommodate a growing population, is surprisingly close.

Hardy was once seen as a long-shot challenger until polls opened Oct. 18 for early voting. Republicans have been showing up to vote in much larger numbers than Democrats, motivated in part by an unpopular president. As of Wednesday, Republicans out-voted Democrats by 44 to 39 percent in the district, according to data from Hardy’s campaign. Friday is the last day for early voting before the Nov. 4 election.

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