Nevada Democrats jockey for first spot on primary calendar

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Steve Marcus

An election worker inspects a mail-in ballot in the count room at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022.

Wed, Nov 23, 2022 (2 a.m.)

When a panel of the Democratic National Committee meets next week in Washington to solidify the party’s calendar for the 2024 presidential primaries, Rebecca Lambe wants those leading Democrats to have Nevada first and foremost on their minds but more importantly first on their list.

Lambe, a Nevada Democratic strategist,says Nevada is the only state that checks all of the party’s requirements as it decides which states hold their primaries first.

“No other state meets every key aspect of the DNC’s own criteria for the early window of diversity, competitiveness, and accessibility except Nevada,” Lambe wrote in a memo on the online publishing platform Medium. The memo was also shared with key Democratic leaders, including members of the DNC’s Rules & Bylaws Committee, which will meet Dec. 1-3 in Washington to finalize the primary calendar for 2024.

Lambe, a longtime aide and chief strategist to former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., echoed what has long been stated by Nevadans advocating for their state to have the first -in-the-nation primary: Nevada’s diversity — unlike Iowa in the Midwestor New Hampshire in the East— mirrors the nation. Iowa traditionally has been the site of the first stop on the presidential election calendar with its caucuses; New Hampshire for years has been home to the first-in-the-nation primaries.

According to a resolution passed by the committee in April, the party is seeking a new presidential nominating process that more accurately “reflects the diversity of the party” and allow candidates a chance to meet a more diverse voting bloc.

Nevada has a large share of working-class voters with a strong union presence and large Latino, Filipino and Asian American populations. The memo cited a demographic diversity — from the Las Vegas and Reno metro centers to tribal and rural communities — that can be predictive of primary victories across the country.

“The voters who make up our electorate represent the future of the Democratic Party if we want to win national elections: working class Latino, Black, Asian American, Native American and white voters. Simply put, we cannot win 270 Electoral votes or Congress without prioritizing the diverse, blue-collar coalition that Nevada represents,” Lambe wrote.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who also supports Nevada’s quest to be first-in-the-nation primary, put it another way.

“If you’re a presidential candidate and you can win in Nevada, you have a message that resonates across the country,” Cortez Masto said on MSNBC earlier this week, calling the state “a microcosm of the rest of the country.”

In laying out her argument, Lambe also wrote that Nevada had strong voting laws and an accessible size

Judith Whitmer, the chairwoman of the Nevada Democratic Party, said the state’s Democratic apparatus would support any legislation needed to put Nevada first in the nation for its nominating convention. The state party in June sent an application to the DNC reiterating its desire to see Nevada become the first state to hold its primary.

“Following our party’s historic trump, we’ve proven once again that the path to the White House should start in Nevada,” Whitmer said in the statement. “Our battleground status, incredible diversity, and union strength continue to make Nevada the unquestionable best testing ground for our candidates, and our historic reversal of midterm trends in this all-important election reaffirms what the DNC already knows: it’s time to make Nevada first.”

In a joint statement last week, the Democrats in Nevada’s congressional delegation pledged support for the move as well.

“By securing the Democratic Senate majority this year and delivering presidential victories four cycles in a row, Nevada has cemented the argument for why we should hold the first presidential primary,” the statement read. “It is a crucial battleground state that determines control of the White House and Congress, and features highly competitive general election races every cycle and at every level of the ballot.

Cortez Masto, along with Democratic U.S. Reps. Steven Horsford, Dina Titus and Susie Lee all won re-election this month in what earlier were considered toss-up races. But the state’s voters ousted Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak in favor of Republican Joe Lombardo as governor.

Nevada in each of the last four elections has given its nod to Democratic presidential candidates, going for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, then giving Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden winning margins of 2.4% of the vote in 2016 and 2020, respectively.

Lambe said approximately 12.2% of Nevada’s workforce belongs to a labor union, and the electorate was “heavily” made up of working class, non-college educated voters “who are slipping away from the party nationally.”

“We need to win (these voters) back,” Lambe wrote. “There is growing long-term evidence of Democratic slippage among these voters, and we have to stop the bleeding.”

Nevada’s population, which as of now sits at about 3 million people, is also a sufficient sample size for candidates “without breaking the bank” and provides a “level playing field” for all types of candidates, Lambe said. About 90% of the state’s population lives within reach of the Las Vegas and Reno media markets, which“makes retail politics more possible, prevents presidential candidates with vast personal wealth or support from billionaires from having an unfair advantage, and avoids skewing the race for delegates.”

The Nevada Legislature in 2021 passed a bill that was later signed into law moving the state from a caucus presidential nominating system to a primary. That same law also moved Nevada’s primary to the first Tuesday in February.

Historically during presidential election years, states will hold some form of a nominating convention, whether that be a caucus, primary or other method from February to June. In each of those contests, candidates will compete for a number of delegates that will ultimately be assigned during the party’s national convention, and from those conventions, a candidate will be nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.

Nevada is already one of the few states in the DNC’s “early” primary window. But moving it to first overall would give Nevada greater say in what issues are most important, and which candidates are best suited to solve those issues, said Molly Forgey, a former staffer for Reid and Sisolak.

“This move isn’t just important for the future and long-term direction of the Democratic Party,” Forgey said. “It would mean that Nevadans have even more access to candidates running to be president, and that increased attention would put an outsized focus on the issues that matter to the West like climate change, immigration reform, public lands, tourism and so much more.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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