Nevada Republicans will hold state convention virtually

The Nevada Republican Party announced Sunday it will cancel its in-person convention set for next weekend at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and instead hold the event virtually.

The decision mirrors actions taken by the Nevada State Democratic Party, which is holding county and state conventions virtually to comply with social distancing guidelines imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

State Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald said the party regularly holds events at Harrah’s. Some members of the executive board and McDonald will still meet at Lake Tahoe, along with a parliamentarian sent from the Republican National Committee, but the convention will be broadcast virtually throughout the state.

McDonald said Harrah’s officials raised concerns about hosting the convention in light of coronavirus rules, even though the party had rented five ballrooms and was intending to limit them to 50 people each to comply with social distancing guidelines. Arrival and departure times were to be staggered to prevent having more than 50 people congregating in a single place, McDonald said.

Although McDonald said he worked with officials from the Gaming Commission, Gaming Control Board and state officials heading up the COVID-19 response, the party ran out of time to satisfy the hotel’s concerns, he said.

“We’re doing the best we can,” he said.

By contrast, Clark County’s Republican Party held an in-person convention on Saturday in the former Lucky Dragon building in Las Vegas.

Nevada’s Republican Party decided earlier this year to forgo its traditional party caucus and voted to allow the party’s central committee to vote to bind the state’s delegates to President Donald Trump. The party reasoned that because Trump faced little real opposition, money spent on the caucus could be better used for registering voters and training volunteers.

In a statement, McDonald said the decision on the convention wouldn’t affect the party’s work leading up to the November election.

“It doesn’t matter if the convention is in-person or online, Republicans are fired up to elect delegates to the Republican National Convention and to re-nominate President Donald J. Trump,” he said in the statement. “President Trump has delivered for Nevadans time and time again and we are excited to deliver another four years in the White House for him this November.”

County and state conventions are held primarily to select delegates to the party’s national convention. Trump recently said Republicans would pull their national convention, scheduled for August, from North Carolina after the state’s Democratic governor wouldn’t guarantee a large, in-person gathering would be allowed under coronavirus rules there. It’s unclear where the convention may be held now.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.