Some Nevada Democrats blame party feuds for defeats

Nevada Democrats vaunted political machine brought victories to Sen. Katherine Cortes Masto, Secretary-elect Cisco Aguilar and Atti. Gene. Aaron Ford last week.

But Gov. Steve Sisolak and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Lisa Cano Burkhead, both lost. The year the Democrats exceeded expectations almost everywhere in the country, Sisola was the only incumbent Democratic governor to lose his seat.

Sisolak’s COVID-19 policy, which closed casinos and led to high unemployment, has been unpopular, and his opponent, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, is well known in the state. But some Nevada Democrats say partisan strife is also to blame for Sisolak’s loss.

The progressive and establishment wing of the Nevada Democratic Party was enmity since last year, when Progressives and members of the Democratic Socialists of America were elected to all leadership positions in the state party. Before losing the internal election, the establishment was debating who was in charge of the state party. sent all his treasury to the Democratic Senatorial Committee. After the election, they quit their jobs and founded a new group, Nevada Democratic Victory.

The party was chosen by top elected officials of the party. Cortes Masto and Sisolak allied with the Nevada Democratic Victory. They, like all Nevada Democrats, worked closely with the so-called Reid machine, an operation to obtain votes and campaign that the late senator. Harry Reid built. Hired agitators for the machine—union members on vacation from Las Vegas casinos—knocked on more than 1 million doors this election cycle.

Dems NV, as progressive rebels are known, decided to focus on electing Democrats to local office.

“We supported their work, but we didn’t work together or coordinate any of our efforts,” Judith Whitmer, chairman of NV Dems, said of the Democratic victory in Nevada. “We focused on the downgraded races while they were in first place. But of course we did our best to support all of our candidates.”

Most NV Democrats have political preferences that differ from their establishment counterparts, but they all spoke highly of Reed, who died last year.

Reed came from an impoverished working class background and was seen by both sides as an advocate for Nevada’s working class. But without him, no one could unite the progressive and ruling wing of the party.

“There is a real vacuum in leadership,” said Chris Roberts, chairman of the Clark County Democrats. “St. Reid was a coalition builder. … Different and disparate groups of people loved and admired him. And there is no one who would take his place to earn the respect and admiration of these different groups of people.”

Relations between the two wings of the party are so contentious that the NV Democrats weren’t invited to the nightly Nevada election observation party at the five-star Encore Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Instead, the NV Dems phoned until 7:00 pm, when polls closed statewide, and held a small Olive Garden food party.

“We haven’t been invited. We’re doing a job here; they can have fun,” Roberts told The Times on Election Night. “It’s not about parties now, and having an encore is not something we should be doing.”

Mallory Payne, a spokesperson for Democratic Victory in Nevada, challenged the idea of ​​splitting the party. “Nevada Democrats have worked together this year to secure not only a Senate majority this cycle, but big wins up and down the ballot,” she said in a statement. “The Nevada Democratic Party, in partnership with Nevada Democratic Victory, ran a successful multi-million voter turnout and persuasion program that helped our candidates in key races. We appreciate their efforts.”

People associated with the Democratic Victory in Nevada, formerly expressed doubts that the newly elected Progressives in the state-party had their predecessors ability raise money, campaign, and select candidates who could win in Nevada. Donna West, former chairman of the Clark County Democratic Party, criticized the new leadership, and Whitmer in particular, for being difficult to work with.

“I found that she can be very difficult to work with, that she doesn’t cooperate very well and doesn’t work towards consensus,” West. Intercept said last year.

Democratic disunity is certainly not the only possible explanation for Sisolak’s defeat. His COVID-19 policy, which closed the casino for two months and led to 28% unemploymenthurt him politically.

NV Democrats “had no impact on wins or losses,” Chris Sloan, senior campaign adviser for the Democratic Governors Association, told The Times.

Sloan cited three other factors that contributed to Sisolak’s loss: the impact of COVID-19 on the local economy, high out-of-state donor spending, and Lombardo’s high profile.

“The effects of the pandemic have become too much of a hurdle,” Sloan said. “Sisola could have won two out of three, but three out of three was too much.”

The tough decision to close the Las Vegas casinos saved lives but contributed to Sisolak’s losses, the North Carolina governor said. Roy Cooper added at the DGA press conference on Wednesday.

“He did the right thing because he knew he wanted to take care of the health and safety of the people living in Nevada, and I think that hurt him a lot,” Cooper said.

Lombardo too chased Sisolak due to the governor’s ties to a COVID-19 testing company that billed the federal government for at least $165 million for tests that did not work.

However, the Democratic campaign in Nevada this year was markedly different from those in previous cycles. In the past, Nevada Democrats have worked together to elect all Democratic candidates across the state. For the first time in Nevada, a campaign coordinated outside of a participating state took the lead this year, Whitmer said.

Historically, the State Party has also worked hand in hand with trade unions in the coordination of electoral activities. This year, however, the unions have largely acted independently. Largest teachers’ union in the state Clark County Educational Association.declined to support a gubernatorial candidate in this cycle, citing a shortage of teachers and poor student achievement.

Nevada Democrats aren’t the only ones pointing the finger at electoral defeat. Rep. Accused Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”solidified machine type policyfor her party’s poor performance in New York, where she is a member of the House of Representatives. Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has lost his seat.

“I never got a call from the chairman of the New York State Democratic Party,” Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times. “All he did was antagonize me and any progressive candidates. We need to get together as a team.”

Whitmer holds similar views and hopes top Democrats in Nevada will see “the error of their path.”

“I think some of those tiny margins could be wider if we could work together as a team here in Nevada,” she said. “We need to come together and work together because that’s how we’re stronger.”