Michelle Obama coming to Las Vegas to spark voter registration
Former first lady Michelle Obama will be in Las Vegas this month to host a rally as part of her push to increase voter registration and engagement in the 2018 election year.
The event comes is being put on by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan group aimed at boosting voter registration numbers which Obama co-chairs, and is part of its “week of action” that will also include events in Miami and Atlanta, the latter of which will feature singer-songwriter and actress Janelle Monae.
The Las Vegas event is Sept. 23, although the time and venue for the rally have not been announced.
“Voting is the only way to ensure that our values and priorities are represented in the halls of power,” Obama said in a statement. “And it’s not enough to just vote for president every four years. We all have to vote in every single election: for mayor, governor, school board, state legislature and Congress. The leaders we elect to these offices help determine just about every aspect of our lives and our democracy.”
Numbers game
The numbers: Democrats in Nevada increased their voter registration lead slightly over Republicans in August, to just over 68,000.
Republican have been hoping to shrink the voter gap to closer to 50,000. For several months, it looked like they were on their way, but Democrats have outpaced their GOP rivals for five consecutive months.
In April, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who is locked into a tight race with Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen for Nevada’s U.S. Senate seat, told a Republican luncheon that he couldn’t win if that gap got to 100,000 — effectively giving Democrats a goal to hit before the Oct. 16 deadline to register to vote in the state.
The history: The gap is bigger than in either of the last two midterms (about 63,000 in 2014 and 58,000 in 2010), but both of those saw the final number hover around 60,000 by election day.
Meanwhile, the last two presidential elections saw the Democratic edge skyrocket over the final two months of registration. It jumped from 72,000 to 89,000 in 2016, and in 2012 it was an even bigger leap, from about 56,000 to 90,000.
What it means: History gives us a muddled view of what might happen, so it really comes down to what happens over the next six weeks, and how effective the parties are at getting their respective messages to resonate with voters.
The Marshall plan
No money to retire? Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Kate Marshall has a plan to help Nevadans save for retirement.
A bill drafted by Marshall proposes automatically enrolling private-sector employees into “low-cost” retirement savings accounts. The plans would be for those workers whose employers provide no retirement savings programs.
The AARP estimates 57 percent of Nevada’s private-sector workers — about 557,000 people — work for an employers that don’t offer retirement plans or pensions.
Marshall’s bill earned a recommendation from the Legislature’s interim Task Force on Financial Security and should be introduced during the 2019 legislative session.
“As Lieutenant Governor, I will work with the legislature to pass this bill into law so that over a half a million Nevadans can save for a healthy and happy retirement,” Marshall said.
Governor Bundy?
He may have no political experience. He may have never run for public office before. But rancher Ryan Bundy, an independent, is already assuming the position of Nevada governor — on Twitter, that is.
A Twitter account created in August named “Governor Bundy” features an animated photo of Bundy with the title. The account has just 34 followers, but GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt’s campaign manager Kristin Davison is one of them.
Bundy, his father Cliven Bundy, and a brother faced federal charges arising from an armed standoff with federal agents in 2014 that stopped a federal roundup of Bundy cattle.
On the airwaves
A pair of new political ads hit the airwaves this week in Nevada’s high-stakes U.S. Senate election.
Heller responded to Rosen’s depiction of him — an inflatable orange tube man they call “Senator Spineless.” In his latest ad, the GOP senator said Rosen has done nothing through her one term in Congress.
“Jacky, I’ll stack my record up against yours any day… actions speak louder than whatever that is,” Heller says pointing to the inflatable man who’s been deflated.
Meanwhile, Rosen unveiled a Spanish language ad that says Heller voted to “take away health insurance from millions” after getting pressured by President Donald Trump. Rosen’s campaign has released four Spanish-language ads. Heller has released none.
— The Las Vegas Police Protective Association Civilian Employees, Inc., which represents Metro’s civilian employees endorsed Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford in his run for attorney general.
— Republican candidate for governor Adam Laxalt received an endorsement from the Nevada chapter for the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Contact Capital Bureau Chief Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter. Contact Ramona Giwargis at rgiwargis@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4538. Follow @RamonaGiwargis on Twitter.
