Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald encourages supporters to vote for Adam Laxalt and other Republican candidates during a rally on the eve of election night, Monday, Nov. 5, 2018.
Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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With the Nevada Republican Party scheduled to meet next week to elect its officers for the 2020 election cycle, here’s hoping a change is in the wind. Nevada would be well served if state GOP leadership recognized the need for a radical shift away from the extremism that has infected the party in recent years.
As shown vividly in the past two elections, the majority of Nevadans reject the national party’s divisive and destructive policies. Just look where we stand today: Democrats hold both of Nevada’s seats in the U.S. Senate, three of its four seats in the U.S. House, the governor’s office, all but one of the other statewide constitutional offices and the majority of seats in both chambers of the Legislature.
One common denominator in the 2016 and 2018 elections was that Republican candidates generally embraced the national GOP’s extremist policies on immigration, gun safety, health care, women’s health, LGBTQ rights, voting access, etc. Another thread in both elections: Democratic candidates held far more moderate, responsible positions on those fronts.
Going into 2020, Republicans would be delusional to think Nevada has warmed to the party’s corrosive dogma. State residents have been served well by leaders who have been receptive to responsible gun safety measures, pushed back against the federal government’s cruel immigration policies, fought to protect affordable health care access for all Nevadans, advocated for women’s access to reproductive care, and much more.
That being the case, the GOP would do voters an enormous service by supporting party leaders and candidates who place the interests of Nevadans over those of their party.
When elections feature choices between capable, responsible candidates with divergent viewpoints, it’s healthy for democracy. When voters can hear debates in which candidates dissect issues and offer a diverse set of solutions, they’re well armed when they go to the polls. They may even cross party lines.
But recent ballots were overpopulated with Republicans so far on the extremist fringe that they weren’t a viable choice. That’s too bad for Nevadans, who proved in past elections that they would support reasonable Republicans.
Take former Gov. Brian Sandoval, who gained enormous popularity by bucking the party on Medicaid expansion, immigration policy, taxation and other policy areas.
This is the kind of candidate the GOP needs more of.
But as the state Republicans head into their leadership meeting, the current chairman unfortunately seems to be doubling down on the party’s toxic platform. The chairman, Michael McDonald, said in a recent interview that the state party “did everything right” in 2018 but was hamstrung by faulty data provided by the national party.
Wrong, Mr. McDonald. The state party marginalized itself.
The promising news is that some Nevada Republicans clearly understand this. McDonald enters the meeting facing two challengers for the chair position, a clear sign of a difference of opinion over the party’s direction. That challenge comes on the heels of Nevada Assembly Republicans dumping Jim Wheeler as their leader during the final days of the legislative session. Wheeler was replaced by Robin Titus, who indicated that the party should work to attract women voters statewide and voters across the board in Clark County.
It’s refreshing that some Republicans see the importance of taking a Sandoval-like, big-tent approach, as opposed to building higher walls.
If they can tip the party in the right direction, Nevadans will have far better choices at the ballot box in elections to come. And that will be good for all of us.
