Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Anti-tax crusader backs Tarkanian for Congress in GOP primary

Grover Norquist

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist speaks at Americans for Tax Reforms annual Tax Day Eve news conference, April 14, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Click to enlarge photo

Danny Tarkanian, a candidate for Congressional District 3, speaks during a town hall meeting sponsored by the Southern Hills Republican Women's Club at Buckman's Grille in Henderson Tuesday, April 26, 2016.

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist has endorsed businessman Danny Tarkanian in the Republican primary for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District.

Norquist, president of the right-wing Americans for Tax Reform and keeper of the no-new-tax pledge, called Tarkanian the “tax fighter Nevadans need in Congress” in an audio clip released by the Tarkanian campaign today.

“Too many of Nevada’s politicians say one thing and do another,” Norquist said. “Pledge-taker Danny Tarkanian supports cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code.”

Norquist also took a jab at Tarkanian’s biggest foe in the Republican primary, state Sen. Michael Roberson, over his role in ensuring the governor’s $1.4 billion tax package passed in the state Legislature.

“I am personally reminding Nevada voters that state Sen. Michael Roberson broke his promise to you to oppose any and all tax hikes,” Norquist said. “He voted for last year’s one-and-a-half-billion dollar tax hike, the largest tax hike in Nevada’s history.”

Proponents of the tax package have justified it as necessary to increase state spending on K-12 education.

This isn’t the first time Norquist has gone after Roberson on the tax issue. Last summer, Norquist tweeted that Roberson voted for “29 tax hike bills in 2015. Every last one of them.”

The Republican nominee will be fighting in November to keep the relatively split district red, with incumbent Rep. Joe Heck seeking election to U.S. Senate instead.

The Democratic battle in the district is expected to come down to synagogue leader Jacky Rosen, who has the backing of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and multiple powerful unions, and Henderson attorney Jesse Sbaih, who has positioned himself as a more progressive option to Rosen.

Early voting began on Saturday and continues through June 10. The primary election is June 14.

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