(Chuck Muth) – At Keystone Nevada’s annual dinner Friday night, the organization took a few minutes to recognize the grassroots heroes who successfully got the photo ID question on November’s ballot.
But as Keystone board member Brett Sutton noted from the stage, all that hard work likely wouldn’t have been enough without the direct involvement of one man…
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.
In his State of State Address in January 2023, Gov. Lombardo noted that “there are certain election reforms that are just common sense.” One of those common-sense reforms, he declared, was requiring photo ID to vote.
“We require people to have a valid form of identification to get on a plane, to operate a motor vehicle or to purchase alcohol or cigarettes,” Lombardo noted, “but not to cast a vote in an election. That is illogical.”
He then proceeded to throw down the gauntlet…
“Mark my words,” he warned. “If the Legislature can’t make meaningful progress in this critical area, these reforms should be placed before the voters during the next election.”
Well, during the 2023 session of the Legislature, the Democrat majority in both houses told the governor to stick it where they sun don’t shine. They wouldn’t even allow his election reform proposals to have a hearing, let alone a vote.
So Dave Gibbs and George Harris launched Repair the Vote and began the process of qualifying photo ID for the November election.
Getting a question on the ballot is extremely difficult and expensive, especially when the other side ties you up in knots and legal fees in court. And after finally winning the court challenge, time was NOT on Repair the Vote’s side.
The ONLY way to gather enough signatures in time to meet the deadline for submission was to hire professional signature gatherers. And the price tab was steep: $1.5 MILLION!
When Gov. Lombardo learned about the need for major funding to bring the ballot question home, he picked up the phone and raised the money. All $1.5 million of it.
Now it’s up to Nevada’s voters.
But that’s not all.
Gov. Lombardo is the first Republican governor in my time to go “all in” on electing allies to the Legislature who will help, not block, his efforts to make Nevada Nevada again.
He and his political team started recruiting high-quality candidates in competitive races over a year ago. They provided campaign training, campaign management, and campaign funding while the governor has personally endorsed a dozen or so GOP candidates and is actively campaigning on their behalf.
And because of the governor’s direct involvement, Republicans might avoid ending up in a super-minority in the State Senate and are likely to get out of the super-minority in the State Assembly.
Republicans in Nevada haven’t had a governor invest so much personal political capital in legislative races since…well, I don’t know when.
As for critics who complain that he hasn’t done enough on school choice and election reform – as have the GOP governors in Florida and Texas – they’re missing a big point.
Unlike those other two states, Gov. Lombardo doesn’t have a Republican Legislature. You give Joe Lombardo a Legislature that’ll work with him instead of fight him and he’ll get sh*t done!
He’s done his part. Now it’s time for Republican voters and activists to do theirs.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Vote! Vote! Vote!
Recommendations*
There’s still a month to go before Election Day, but some readers have advised that they’ve already received their mail-in ballot.
So with the usual caveat that the following can change at any time before November 5, here are some initial recommendations…
• State Senate 1: Patricia Brinkley
• State Senate 5: Carrie Buck
• State Senate 6: Jill Douglass
• State Seante 7: Leo Henderson
• State Senate 11: Lori Rogich
• State Senate 15: Michael Ginsburg
• State Senate 18: John Steinbeck
• State Senate 19: John Ellison
• State Assembly 1: Garland Brinkley
• State Assembly 2: Heidi Kasama
• State Assembly 4: Lisa Cole
• State Assembly 5: Kelly Quinn
• State Assembly 8: Kelly Chapman
• State Assembly 9: Erica Neely
• State Assembly 11: Jeffrey Lustick
• State Assembly 12: Nan Roecker
• State Assembly 15: Melissa Spence
• State Assembly 17: Robert Olsen
• State Assembly 19: Toby Yurek
• State Assembly 21: April Arndt
• State Assembly 29: Annette Dawson Owens
• State Assembly 34: Brandon Davis
• State Assembly 35: Rebecca Edgeworth
• State Assembly 36: Greg Hafen
• State Assembly 37: David Brog
• State Assembly 41: Rafael Arroyo
• Clark County Commission A: Ryan Hamilton
• Clark County Commission C: April Becker
• Clark County School Board A: Emily Stevens
• Clark County School Board B: Lydia Dominguez
• Clark County School Board E: Lorena Biasotti
• University Board of Regents District 1: Matthew Bowen
• University Board of Regents District 12: Jonathan Maxham
• State Board of Education District 1: Tim Underwood
• State Board of Education District 2: Angela Orr
• State Board of Education District 3: Rene Cantu
• Clark County District Court Department 14: Tina Talim
• Clark County District Court Department 27: Erika Mendoza
• Clark County Family Court Department N: Paul Gaudet
• Las Vegas Justice of the Peace 2: Joseph Sciscento
• Las Vegas Justice of the Peace 4: Suzan Baucum
• Las Vegas Justice of the Peace 5: Madilyn “Leavitt” Cole
• Las Vegas Justice of the Peace 8: Nancy Bernstein
• Henderson Justice of the Peace 1: Sandy Allred DiGiacomo
• North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace 2: Jonathan Cooper
• Mesquite Mayor: Jesse Whipple
• Mesquite City Council 2: Ron Shackelford
• Mesquite City Council 5: Wes Boger
• Question 1: NO
• Question 2: YES
• Question 3: NO
• Question 4: YES
• Question 5: YES
• Question 6: NO
• Question 7: YES
* Subject to change right up until election day
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Your Sept. 22 article on what Nevada would look like with a Democrat supermajority in the Legislature can be summed up in one word: California.” – John Anastasoff
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views and blogs at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.
Lombardo Going Where No NV GOP Guv has Gone Before
