Walker’s Nevada backers rule out moving to Trump

By Kyle Roerink

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015 | 2 a.m.

With Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropping out of the GOP presidential race, Nevada’s Republican voters and campaign operatives have two options: go mainstream or go rogue.

Nevada backers could throw their weight and money behind establishment candidates like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. They could also back outsiders like real estate mogul Donald Trump, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina or neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Several of Walker's prominent backers said they were considering staying within the Republican establishment.

Former Nevada Gov. Bob List, who until Monday was the campaign chairman for Walker in Nevada, hadn’t made a decision on whom to back, but he has spoken to Rubio, Bush, Kasich and Ted Cruz. He ruled out supporting Trump, saying that he would not champion a nonpolitician.

List said he was surprised at how well insurgents like Trump were polling, adding that “a couple of the outsiders are a mile wide and an inch deep. I don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

Walker was the most conservative candidate with the most establishment backing, said Jeff Kaye, Walker’s Nevada campaign consultant. That set up the dilemma for his backers: Move conservative or move establishment?

Although Walker left the race Monday in the face of low poll numbers and even lower coffers, he once seemed as he could bridge the party's factions.

With the vast field of candidates, Walker fans are likely to have one or two backups — but they might not converge on the same one. His voters won’t collectively shift to a single candidate, Nick Phillips, political director of the Clark County Republican Party, said. “They are going to scatter,” he said.