Nevada Democratic Party Recommendations

With Democrats controlling the Legislature and most of the state’s elected offices, it’s a poor time for schoolyard shoving matches inside the party.

But that’s what is happening now, with the insurgent progressive wing of the Nevada Democratic Party confronting what has been known as the Reid machine. The latest salvo came when the party removed several members of the central committee, including Culinary Union Local 226 leaders and Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom.

Catherine Cortez Masto for Senator

With national Democrats worried about their chances of retaking the Senate, Nevada is seen as one of the most competitive states. Cortez Masto has a lot going for her: name recognition, serious campaign cash, establishment support and polling leads in hypothetical matchups with potential Republican challengers.

The former two-term state attorney general, who was also a federal prosecutor, is focusing her campaign on abortion and the economy. She has promised to vote against any bill that restricts access to the procedure, and she has worked hard to court Nevada’s Spanish-speaking residents and hourly wage earners by visiting union halls and workers’ groups.

She is cosponsoring legislation to improve health care coverage for working families, including the Family Coverage Act, and she’s pushing to lower drug prices by allowing Medicare seniors to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies. As a member of four Senate committees, she is in a position to push for those policies and others that help the state’s economy.

Adam Laxalt for Attorney General

As Nevada’s attorney general, Laxalt filed legal briefs in support of laws restricting abortion and challenged federal environmental protection regulations and gun rules. He also chaired Donald Trump’s failed reelection campaign in 2020 and repeated Trump’s disproven conspiracy theories about widespread election fraud.

In addition to his work in private practice, Laxalt established the Office of Military Legal Assistance, a first-of-its-kind program that provides pro bono legal help to service members and their families. He is a Navy veteran and served in Iraq as a judge advocate.

He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University and earned a law degree from its school of law. A fourth generation Nevadan, he lives in Reno with his wife, Jaime, and their daughters Sophia and Isabella. He is a partner at Cooper & Kirk. He serves on the board of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and co-founded the Saint Thomas More Society of Nevada. He is an advisory board member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Foundation.

Dina Titus for Congress

Dina Titus is a longtime champion for Nevada and was outspent by her opponent in the 2022 general election but held on to re-election. She is running to serve another term representing Congressional District 1, which encompasses much of Las Vegas.

She is an active member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Education and Labor Committee as well as the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees and has been elected to numerous issue caucuses. She is a strong proponent of clean energy and is a co-sponsor of the Renewable Electricity Standard Act and the Climate Change Action Plan.

In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern history at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Titus became one of the leading voices in Congress calling for substantive action to reduce gun violence and introduced legislation to close the Bump Stock Loophole. She also is an advocate for the DREAM Act. Fully embracing her Hellenic heritage, she has traveled to Athens, Meteora, Delphi, and many of the beautiful Greek islands.

Debra March for Lieutenant Governor

When Bernie Sanders aides and members of Democratic Socialists of America took control of the Nevada Democratic Party two years ago, progressives cheered the move as a blueprint for how to transform state parties into potent grassroots organizations. But now that the party is in turmoil, it’s clear that the experiment hasn’t worked out as planned. State party chair Judith Whitmer has been accused of failing to build the party infrastructure to reach rural voters, antagonizing leaders in the state’s legislative caucuses and getting into a needless contretemps with Gov. Steve Sisolak by backing a challenger in the 2022 primary for lieutenant governor.

Those infightings have spilled into the open, as partisan attacks fly and longtime party leaders air their grievances on social media and in blistering press releases. It’s like watching a quarreling family start a food fight at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Amid the dysfunction, it’s hard to see how the Nevada Democratic machine can turn out Democrats in key statewide races this year.