Thinking Citizen Blog — Nevada (Part One) Governor Joe Lombardo (R), US Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and Jacky Rosen (D)
Thinking Citizen Blog — Sunday is Political Process, Campaign Strategy, and Candidate Selection Day
Today’s Topic: Nevada (Part One) Governor Joe Lombardo (R), US Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and Jacky Rosen (D)
Last week, Utah. Two weeks ago, Colorado. Three weeks ago, Indiana. The state-by-state tour of the US political landscape started with Michigan ten weeks ago. We then traveled to New York, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Iowa,
The goal of the tour is to be a little less ignorant when the November election rolls round than I would otherwise be.
Are you from Nevada? Do you live in Nevada? What do you know about Nevada politics that the rest of us should know but probably don’t?
Nevada qualifies as a “swing state”: in five of the last eight US presidential elections the margin of victory was 3 points or less.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN NEVADA; Biden 50% Trump 48% — rural versus urban split
1. “Most counties in the state of Nevada are rural and voted heavily for Trump.”
2. “However, Biden won the two most populous counties, Clark and Washoe, which make up 89% of Nevada’s population.The states three largest cities are located in these counties: Las Vegas and Henderson in the former, and Reno in the latter.”
3. “His strength in these areas ws likely due to high presence of minority and union voters.” Specifically, “the heavy turnout among culinary unions in populous Clark County, anchored by Las Vegas….Additionally, biden was able to win about 43% and 34% of votes in the tourism-heavy Lake Tahoe areas of Carson City and Douglas County, respectively.”
NB “Nevada weighed in for this election as 2% more Republican than the nation-at-large.”
GOVERNOR JOE LOMBARDO (1962 — ) a 34-year career in law enforcement
1. Became a police officer in the Las Vegas police department in 1988. Rose to sergeant in 1996. Lieutenant in 2001. Captain in 2006. Assistant Sheriff 2011.
2. Elected Sheriff of Clark County in 2013. He was re-elected in 2018.
3. In 2022, he won election as Governor, unseating the incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak by a margin of 48.8% to 47.3%. “Lombardo’s win marked the first time in the state’s history that anyone had won the governorship without winning either Clark or Washoe counties, home to a combined 89% of the state’s population.”
NB: “Political analysts believe that the main reason for Sisolak’s defeat can be narrowed down to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns during the pandemic proved unpopular in Nevada, which has a reputation for historically being a relatively philosophically libertarian state.”
SENATOR CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (1964 — ) former Attorney General of Nevada, 2007–2015
1. In 2016, won election by a margin of 47% to 45% to become the first Latina elected to serve in the US Senate and the first female senator elected in Nevada. She replaced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had served as Senator from Nevada since 1987.
2. She was re-elected in 2022 by an even narrower margin: 48.8% versus 48.0%.
3. ‘Growing up in a union household, she learned the value of organized labor from a young age, and in the Senate she has consistently fought to bring more businesses to Nevada while passing legislation that’s creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and building the state’s clean energy economy.” (from her website)
NB: “A former federal prosecutor and a tough-on-crime attorney general, Catherine knows families can’t get ahead if they don’t feel safe.” (from her website)
SENATOR JACKY ROSEN (1957 — ) had served at US Representative from 2017–2019
1. “A former computer progrtammer with no political experience at the time, Rosen was asked by US Minority Leader Harry Reid, also from Nevada, to run in the 2016 election for the US House seat being vacated by Republican Joe Heck.” Her margin of victory was less than 4,000 votes (47% to 46%).
2. In the 2018 election for US Senate she won by a margin of just shy of 50,000 votes (50% to 45%). Her Republican opponent Dean Heller “carried 15 of Nevada’s 17 county-level jurisdictions, but Rosen carried the state’s two largest, Clark (home to Las Vegas) and Washoe (home to Reno). She won Clark County by over 92,000 votes, almost double her statewide margin.”
3. “United States Senator Jacky Rosen is committed to working with both parties to deliver for Nevada’s hardworking families. She is fighting for all Nevadans by being an independent voice that brings people together to find commonsense, bipartisan solutions for our state.” (from her website)
NB: “Jacky has been ranked by independent experts as one of the most bipartisan Senators in the chamber. More than 90% of of the legislation she has introduced in the Senate is bipartisan.”
FOOTNOTE — Is split-ticket voting a good idea? (see last two links below)
1. Do you know anyone who on principle always splits their votes among different parties based on the idea that the greatest threat to liberty is a united government?
2. Did you know that split-ticket US Senate delegations only number five today, an historical low? Down from 27 in 1979?
3. These questions were inspired by pondering Nevada’s mix of a Republican governor and two Democratic US Senators.
NB: The current breakdown of Governors is: 27 Republican, 23 Democrat. Senate: 49 Republican, 48 Democrat, 3 Independent (Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona, Angus King, Maine. and Bernie Sanders, Vermont).
2020 United States presidential election in Nevada — Wikipedia
2022 Nevada gubernatorial election — Wikipedia
Political party strength in Nevada — Wikipedia
What are the current swing states, and how have they changed over time?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacky_Rosen
Catherine Cortez Masto — Wikipedia
U.S. Senate has fewest split delegations since direct elections began
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to political process or campaign strategy or 2020 candidate selection or anything else for that matter.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day or change their thinking. Or to consolidate in your own memory something worth remembering that might otherwise be lost. Or to clarify or deepen your own understanding of something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
