Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak leaves with his wife Kathy after delivering the State of the State address at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.
Published Monday, Feb. 28, 2022 | 11:54 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, March 1, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Gov. Steve Sisolak and first lady Kathy Sisolak were threatened by two men at a Las Vegas restaurant Sunday, as one of them forcefully yelled, “We should string you up on a lamp post. You are running into a patriot now.”
Video of the one-minute exchange shows one of the men trying to intimidate Sisolak by saying, “I’m surprised you have the balls to be out here in public, punk, without a cop.” The video was initially obtained by the Review Journal.
Sisolak’s office said the men approached asking to take a photo. The exchange at Lindo Michoacan on West Flamingo Road turned heated and the men used foul language and insulted the first lady’s Chinese heritage.
Sisolak’s office issued a statement saying, “He is deeply disappointed in how this incident unfolded, particularly with the language used to talk about first lady Kathy Sisolak’s heritage. We can disagree about the issues, but the personal attacks and threats are unwarranted, unwelcome and unbecoming behavior for Nevadans.”
A TikTok user with this handle “nevadapublican2.0” initially showed no shame in being part of the profanity-heavy attack, posting the video with the message, “We confronted NV GOV Sisolak at a bar!!!!!”
In the video, the man gets into Sisolak's face and asks in a threatening tone, "You are here without security?" (As of Monday night, the social media post was no longer available)
The exchange concludes in the parking lot when Sisolak’s daughter, Ashley, approaches. The man turns away saying, “because your daughter’s with you, I’m going to leave you alone now.”
Las Vegas resident Justin Andersch on his podcast “Cannabis and Combat” is taking credit for the threats. In an episode posted on Monday, Andersch referenced the now widely circulated video, adding that “yesterday, I was eating dinner with my family when Gov. Steve Sisolak walked in.”
The man then plays multiple versions of audio of the incident and later asked listeners to “please share this far and wide.” Other episodes of the podcast promote far-right anti-government conspiracy theories.
The Nevada State Police said it is aware of the incident and has opened an investigation, a spokesperson said. No further details were available because the investigation is ongoing.
The Sunday incident with Sisolak wasn’t the first confrontation documented on the TikTok account of “nevadapublican2.0.” A video posted Dec. 24 shows Andersch approaching Sisolak at an event and saying he wants to put him under citizen’s arrest.
The governor’s security detail, generally speaking, is only with Sisolak when he is on official business.
After Sisolak was involved in an accident in October in which he was driving, George Togliatti, director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety which oversees the governor’s security detail, told the Nevada Independent that security was always on call for the governor.
“We encourage (the governor) to take detail as often as possible, but we work for him and he’s cognizant of budgets. I won’t disclose how many people we have with him, but we always know where he is at any given time,” he said.
Javier Barajas, owner of the Lindo Michoacan chain, in a statement to the Sun said the men were ejected from the restaurant.
“In the 32 years I’ve been in business, I’ve never once told any client to ‘get out of here,’” he said. “Regardless of your political stance, I believe everyone should be treated with respect. People are allowed to disagree. With everything going on in the world right now, we should all strive to be better Nevadans and respect one another.”
Sisolak’s office said it won’t be commenting further on the incident, only saying "the governor works on behalf of all Nevadans — even those who disagree with him — and he will continue to do so."
Others are commenting, including his Republican foes.
Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, who is running for the Republican nomination to face Sisolak in the November midterm elections, said in a statement that Sisolak was "lucky it was just words."
"If you look at the history of dictators, pitchforks will be next," she said.
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Joey Gilbert of Reno said Sisolak brought that on himself with his “smug, absolutely irresponsible and unacceptable behavior.”
“There’s always a way, time and place to do anything,” Gilbert said. “All I’m going to say is, that happened. I think he deserved it. I wouldn’t want to see anybody get hurt, number one. I’m glad nothing happened. I don’t think that person was going to hurt him. He just wanted to exercise his first amendment right, his freedom of speech. He did.”
That reasoning isn't sitting well with some members of the Republican Party, who feel Andersch's actions of intimidation were "anti-American."
“Violence has no place in American political discourse,” said Heath Mayo, founder of Principles First, a grassroots organization built by citizens who are unhappy with the current state of politics and the Republican Party. “There are people in the (Republican) Party right now who think that’s OK. If you’re losing or if someone doesn’t do what you want them to do and they’re a public official, you have a right to go intimidate them and harass them. That’s anti-American.”
