Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Politics:

Southern Nevada viewers like what they see from their preferred candidate

Trump

David Goldman / AP

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shakes hands with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton after the presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 26, 2016.

Debate Viewing Party at Democratic Field Office

A man listens to Hillary Clinton during a presidential debate viewing party at a Democratic Party field office Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. Launch slideshow »

Summerlin GOP Victory Office Debate Watch Party

Viewers attend the Summerlin GOP Victory Office Debate Watch Party in Las Vegas on September 26, 2016. Launch slideshow »

Minutes after the first presidential debate ended, pollsters and pundits alike had, by and large, declared Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton its winner.

But in the spin room, spokespeople for Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump were telling tales of two vastly different debates, each side proclaiming themselves the winner. The same was true here in Nevada, where supporters from both camps were certain their preferred candidate had won the debate, which was televised live from Hofstra University on Long Island Monday night.

In Summerlin, about 50 Trump supporters gathered at a Nevada State Republican Party office to cheer on the Republican nominee. Attendees included leaders from local churches, armed forces veterans and recent Las Vegas transplants.

Wearing a white shirt with a name tag from nearby Faith Community Lutheran Church, Las Vegan Ginny Hill was all smiles after Monday's debate. "It was biased, they kept cutting (Trump) off," she said. "But he was certainly the better candidate."

Hill, 69, who also volunteered on the phones for the campaigns of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, cited financial and national border security as the main reasons she felt Trump would make a better president than Clinton. "We need that wall to secure our border," Hill said. "And we must balance our budget."

Recent Las Vegas transplant Grady Cash spent most of his life in Oklahoma City before coming to the valley for a job earlier this year selling timeshares at the Cosmopolitan. Cash, 48, argued that Trump was too soft on Clinton during the debate and said he thought Trump didn't attack the Democratic candidate for lying as much as he should have.

Trump's messages on economic growth and his promise to tighten enforcement of criminal law in urban communities hit home with Cash, who said the two were "important to rebuilding our country."

"We need law and order in this country," Cash said, "and we need our jobs back. Trump will bring those back."

Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald agreed, saying that Trump's business acumen will be especially useful for a Nevada economy that was hard hit by the housing crisis.

"More than anything, Republican or Democrat, it's about rebuilding this state and rebuilding this country." McDonald said at Monday's watch party. "When it comes down to that, he wins."

Meanwhile, a couple dozen Clinton supporters gathered at a campaign office just over the border from Henderson in Las Vegas, where they cheered on the Democratic nominee and chuckled at her one-liners. Her “Trumped-up trickle-down” economics remark and quipping to Trump “I know you live in your own reality” drew the most laughter from the crowd.

(Attendees also supplemented the debate with their own running commentary. At one point a woman muttered under her breath that the debate was “like watching a teacher discuss jobs with a 5-year-old.”)

All those interviewed there thought Clinton had won the debate, including 43-year-old audiovisual designer Thomas Stark, who said he was unsure about voting for her before the debate.

“I was a little middle of the road before I saw it, but now I’m leaning toward Hillary Clinton,” said Stark, who said he was considering not voting or choosing a third-party candidate. “It really gave me a clear message of what Hillary Clinton stood for and just the overall vagueness of Donald Trump.”

He pointed to Clinton pressing Trump on why he won’t release his tax returns as one of the highlights of the debate.

“It seemed like he was really trying to hide something really hard, trying to hide something about his finances, and that really reminded me a lot about something Richard Nixon-ish,” Stark said. “Do we want another Richard Nixon? Do we need something like that?”

Henderson resident Terry Jobin, 73, said he was glad that the moderator, NBC’s Lester Holt, pushed Trump on his role in the so-called “birther” controversy, questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

“Holt tried to ask him questions that put the whole thing in proper perspective, and he refused to deal with it,” said Jobin, who will be voting for Clinton in November, as will his wife, Kathy.

For 40-year-old Bhagamshi Kannegundla, it was Clinton’s environmental policy that stood out during the debate. He said that he hoped her arguments in favor of renewable energy and to stop global warming would hold sway with millennial voters, particularly those who had previously supported her primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“The fact that Bernie is going with Hillary because he knows the future is all based on us protecting the environment, I hope they take his advice,” Kannegundla said. “I hope they take his advice.”

He also said that he felt that Clinton made a strong, positive argument for why people should choose her.

“I hope that people see at least from Trump’s side he was just pointing fingers,” he said. “That’s all he does. He doesn’t have a plan to do anything.”

The vice presidential candidates, Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, will debate on Oct. 4 at Longwood University in Virginia. The second presidential debate will be held at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9, and the third and final presidential debate will be held at UNLV on Oct. 19.

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