NV-GOV 2022: Sisolak vs. Lombardo

[Joe Republic]

Mayor of North Las Vegas John Lee is in.

He made a "dramatic" ( ) switch from Dem to GQP just last month.  Served in the Assembly and Senate until defeated in a primary for re-election.

I'm proud to say I called this one two days early!  (Though sadly not here...)  His Twitter feed had been quiet and sporadic right up until his party switch.  Then suddenly he's on it every day or so, mainly attacking Sisolak and those dastardly socialist Democrats, and then making it really obvious by embarking on a random tour of all 17 counties... totally normal behavior for a city mayor.

[Joe Republic]

12 hours after announcing his bid, John Lee is off to a great start:





He’s 65 years old and still hadn’t got the vaccine.

[Joe Republic]

A tour of all counties seems dumb in a state like Nevada. Doesn't something like 85% of the population live in either Clark, Washoe or Carson City?

Correct, but it's good for any candidate running statewide to put on a dog and pony show and pretend to care about the rurals.

Plus, running up the margins out there could be decisive in the GOP primary.

[Joe Republic]

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, already widely rumored to be jumping in, looks set to do so soon.  He is likely the frontrunner, given the team of consultants he already has on board, plus fmr Lt Gov Mark Hutchison as his campaign chair.


https://twitter.com/TheNVIndy/status/1395517900350377986?s=20

[Joe Republic]

Northern Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican, said Friday that he's still weighing whether to run for governor and did not have a timeline for when he might make a decision.

“We're just going through our process,” Amodei said.

He said he spoke with former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller a week ago, who told Amodei he was interested in running for governor.

Heller did not return a text message seeking comment.

Republican former Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who ran for governor against Sisolak in 2018, has been considered a potential candidate for governor next year or a U.S. Senate candidate challenging incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto.

Laxalt said in a statement Friday that he was humbled by the encouragement he has received from Nevadans to run for another public office but did not say if he would enter the governor's or Senate race.

“I will continue to have these conversations with friends and supporters, and I will make a decision regarding a future run at a time most appropriate for my family and me,” he said.

This thread title could use an update.

[Joe Republic]

So why does strongly Dem Clark county have a Republican sheriff?

It's non-partisan.

[Joe Republic]

It is odd how so many people want to run for this seat, but like no one wants to run against Masto. Anyways Heller would be a very could get and could very well beat Sisolak. Additionally, it's unclear if the "Senator Spineless" attacks that bogged him down in 2018 will be relevant in 2022, which will have been more than 5 years after the GOP ACA repeal debacle. Tossup for now.

CCM has been fairly inoffensive, and doesn’t have cause to attract flak the way Sisolak has.  Even the Dems know he’s highly vulnerable, and the base is quite pissed off with him right now as well.

[Joe Republic]

I forgot to mention this when it happened a few days ago, but the GOP primary now has a certified lunatic.  Joey Gilbert is a former head injury victim professional boxer and now ambulance chaser personal injury lawyer whose billboard ads I have seen all over Reno.  He was proud to say that he was at the Capitol on 1/6, although denies that he went inside and hasn't been charged with anything.  Since then, he has started building a small but cult-like following of the typical people you might expect.

Republican Joey Gilbert told an applauding audience at the Ahern Hotel in Las Vegas over the weekend that he planned to challenge Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak in Nevada’s 2022 gubernatorial race, according to a video of the event posted on Facebook.

...

Gilbert, a former professional boxer, said in his remarks Saturday that he believed Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election and was “still our president.”

...

He positioned voter fraud allegations at the center of his campaign, falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines were unproven and urged people not to take them. He also referred to the coronavirus as a “plandemic,” using a term that suggests the pandemic was intentionally created.

...

Gilbert has spoken at events in rural Elko and Lander County celebrating local officials’ decisions to join the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a right-wing group that believes county sheriffs have a duty to uphold the constitution that supersedes other elected officials up to the president.

He’s worked with local activists in rural counties to rescind mask mandates and filed lawsuits challenging restrictions put on businesses and places of worship to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

He has protested Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 restrictions on businesses, the teaching of critical race theory in schools and the results of the election.

[Joe Republic]

I literally LOL'd when I saw the news about Fiore jumping in.  The woman is a hoot!  (To laugh at, not with, if that wasn’t clear.)

Here's the best part of her many contributions to the brief period of time when the GOP controlled the Nevada Assembly:

Heller has more support overall and name recognition than this random Trump lady, though both would lose to Sisolak.

You're correct about Heller, but Fiore isn’t some "random Trump lady". She’s been fairly well known in the state (for mostly the wrong reasons) for nearly a decade.

[Joe Republic]

https://twitter.com/votefiore/status/1450501765661478914?s=21

Fun fact: We had our engagement photos taken at that same dry lake.

Anyway, her claim that she was the first female Assembly majority leader is partly true.  Yes, the GOP caucus elected her as such, but the incoming Speaker removed her from the job before the legislative session even began.

That whole session was just non-stop dysfunction.  Nevada Republicans are a hot mess.