Conservatives and moderates clash in GOP legislative races
CARSON CITY — A tooth-and-nail political battle for the ages is being played out in Nevada this primary season pitting anti-tax Republicans against moderates in nearly a score of Assembly races around the state.
On one side are more traditional Republicans who supported Gov. Brian Sandoval’s $1.5 billion tax package in the 2015 legislative session to expand funding primarily to public education. On the other are those who opposed the plan, particularly the new commerce tax that won approval by more than a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and the state Senate.
This stark division between these two coalitions of Republican lawmakers has produced what could be a historic primary on June 14, with nine incumbent GOP Assembly members who supported the revenue plan facing opposition from anti-tax challengers, many of whom are backed by Assemblyman Brent Jones, R-Las Vegas, under the name the Majority Project.
But the traditional Republicans, led by Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson, R-Las Vegas, are fighting back.
Anderson and his Growth and Opportunity Political Action Committee are not only working to retain their seats, they are also fronting GOP candidates of their own in open seats as well as with a challenge to Jones directly.
MANY PRIMARY CONTESTS
In addition to the 10 primaries involving incumbent Assembly Republicans, another seven seats currently held by the GOP are open contests, many with candidates from the two sides facing off.
The internecine fight has spilled over into the state Senate as well, particularly in the GOP primary race for the open Senate District 6 seat in Las Vegas where Assembly tax supporter Erv Nelson is facing off against Assembly tax opponent Victoria Seaman.
It has even entered the race for the 3rd Congressional District, where state Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, a tax supporter, is facing challenges from Republicans opposed to the tax package, including Assemblywoman Michele Fiore.
UNLV political science professor David Damore said the GOP primary battles could all be for naught if Democrats regain control of the Assembly in the November general election, which is a distinct possibility.
“I have talked to Democrats and they are confident with a more robust turnout, they will get some of those Assembly seats back,” he said. “So that’s the big question. Will Republicans fight small battles but end up losing the majority?”
But the races are worth watching, Damore said.
“It could be a very interesting primary,” he said. “It mirrors the fight nationally in the GOP between the grassroots and the ‘get along, go along’ wing.”
Nevada Democrats have no such dramatic divisions.
ACTIVIST: GOP FAILED IN 2015
Las Vegas conservative Republican activist Laurel Fee, who is working with Jones to win the contested GOP primary battles, said Republicans failed to accomplish real change in 2015 when the party controlled both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office for the first time in more than 80 years.
“As a party we squandered our longtime Republican issues,” she said.
Efforts to approve Voter ID, for example, failed in large part due to Republican opposition in the Assembly, Fee said.
“These are simple, common-sense issues that people want,” she said. “This is why so many people, Democrats and Republicans, are so angry. We’re just trying to get good GOP candidates who understand the platform of smaller government and lower taxes.”
But Anderson said the anti-tax candidates are all focusing on the single issue whereas those who supported Sandoval can point to myriad accomplishments, from economic development to public school reforms including school choice, although that program is being challenged in the courts.
The Assembly districts are small enough in size and population to allow candidates to make contact with nearly all the voters who will participate in the primary, and that personal effort is critical to winning in June, he said.
“The reality is that they are going to make this all about the tax vote,” Anderson said. “That is their side of the story. But when you go knock on doors, few souls even know that there was a tax vote or that taxes had been increased at any level.”
The issues for voters are jobs, the economy and education, he said.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS STRESSED
“They love the education reforms and educational choice programs,” Anderson said. “They hear about Tesla and Faraday and economic development. They see that the unemployment rate is in a nose dive. We have more small businesses now than we’ve ever had in the history of Nevada. These are the things they are talking about at the door.”
Assembly Republican incumbents who supported Sandoval can talk about solutions they have crafted to bring about real change, he said.
Assemblyman Derek Armstrong, R-Henderson, a member of the Anderson coalition, said the new DMV building under construction in Las Vegas is an example of legislative action that is producing positive results for Nevada residents.
“We had to make some tangible investments,” he said. “Nobody wants to wait at DMV for eight hours and neither do we.”
Another example is the funding for the UNLV Medical School that will produce significant economic benefits, Armstrong said.
“It’s not just about taxes, its about investment,” he said.
The tax package approved in 2015 is the largest in state history. In addition to the new commerce tax on businesses making $4 million or more in gross revenue, cigarette taxes were raised by $1 per pack and a 0.35 percent sales tax increase for education was made permanent, among other levies and fees.
WHICH FACTION WILL WIN?
Damore said it is difficult to predict which faction of the Republican Party will come out on top in the primary. Low turnout might tend to favor the anti-tax candidates, but the way the seats are won is through knocking on doors, he said.
If an effort by anti-tax Republicans to put the commerce tax on the November ballot is successful, that could be a rallying point to increase conservative turnout as well, Damore said.
There is also the question of how involved Sandoval will be in the races, particularly in raising money for those who backed him last year.
Sandoval has done at least one fundraiser, for Assemblyman James Oscarson at the Pahrump Valley Winery on March 30.
The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce on April 15 announced it has endorsed a number of the moderate Assembly Republicans, rejecting the anti-tax candidates.
Former Reno Assemblyman Pat Hickey, a Republican who voted for the tax package along with the education reforms last year, said he expects that most of the challenged incumbents will win their primary battles.
“I argued for years that good Republicans ought to consider voting for more spending once reforms were enacted, and they were,” he said. “There was a consensus feeling that more money was needed to use in targeted ways to improve student performance. They were statesman-like decisions, and voters will respond to that.”
The claim that Nevada’s business climate would suffer with the new commerce tax has not played out either, Hickey said. The commerce tax has just broadened the tax base and required large companies to pay their fair share of taxes, he said.
FIGHT ABOUT GOP’S FUTURE
But for Jones, the integrity of the GOP party is at stake in the primary contests.
“Call it a civil war or whatever, the question is what does the GOP party really stand for,” he said. “A group of Republicans betrayed the trust of the voters. All of these guys violated what they promised to do when they ran for office.”
Jones said his coalition will benefit from the primary turnout, which typically attracts the most conservative Republican voters.
“People are tired of politicians who say one thing and do the opposite,” he said.
Once the primary battles are over, Assembly Republicans will look to November in an effort to retain control of the 42-member house. Republicans swept to a 25-17 majority in the GOP wave of 2014 to control the Assembly for the first time since 1985.
But Anderson said his slate of candidates has a better chance of appealing to a broad cross section of voters in November, particularly nonpartisans who make up a big voting block in all of the Assembly districts.
While taxes are not expected to be a big issue in the 2017 session, Jones said his coalition will work to hold the line on any proposals to increase taxes as well as on other conservative issues.
“If it’s a big GOP year in November, we should do OK,” he said.
Damore said he does not see a repeat of the 2014 GOP sweep.
“The Democrats learned their lesson,” he said.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Find @seanw801 on Twitter.
