Trump: Dean Heller lost re-election because he didn’t excite voter base
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called former Sen. Dean Heller “a terrible senator” who lost his re-election bid because he had been “extraordinarily hostile” to Trump during the 2016 election.
During a sit-down with regional reporters Wednesday, Trump said that he tried to get his Nevada voters to support Heller during the 2018 campaign. Heller ended up losing to Democrat Jacky Rosen — she won 50 percent of the vote, he won 45 percent.
“What happened with Dean Heller is I tried for him,” Trump told the Review-Journal, but his hard-core voter base “did not believe me. They wouldn’t go for him.”
“It’s past as far as I’m concerned,” Heller told the Review-Journal. “This president called me that day before the election and said I was going to win by five points. Now all of sudden he has a different spin on that. Not surprising. I think America’s used to that.”
Trump accused Heller of leaving the impression that the Nevada Republican had voted for Hillary Clinton for president by not revealing on how he voted in 2016, which hurt Heller with the base.
“But the worst he said was ‘no comment,’ which is essentially the same” as saying he voted for Clinton, Trump contended. “When a senator walks out of a voting booth and he’s a Republican and he says no comment, that’s not good sign.”
For that reason, Trump did not nominate Heller to be his next Interior secretary. “I just could never get my base excited on him.”
Trump then added, “I like him a lot.”
“I consider the president a friend,” Heller told the Review-Journal. “I like him. I just hate to respond to these kind of comments. He did a lot of good for me in my campaign.”
Heller also countered that he did have the votes of the conservative base. “I know every hunting group, every cattleman’s group and every agriculture group” in the state, Heller said, and they called Trump pushing for Heller.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.
