It’s the Primaries, Stupid – Part II: Clark County Commission F
Source: Muth’s Truths
The race for Clark County Commission District F seat just got a lot more interesting.
The seat is open after scandal-plagued Democrat Commissioner Justin Jones announced he was not seeking re-election.
Republicans have a heated primary fight going on between Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama – endorsed by Gov. Lombardo – and newcomer Albert Mack – endorsed by Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony and Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill.
Kasama has generally been considered the front-runner, but Mack is making a spirited run at the seat – and momentum appears to be shifting his way.
The turd in the punchbowl is former State Sen. Becky Harris, who was one of the turncoat Republicans in the 2015 Legislature who voted for the largest tax hike in Nevada history.
Harris was a Democrat who switched to the GOP as a state senator – and is now running for the commission as a non-partisan.
The fear is that she’ll pull votes in the general election from whoever the Republican nominee is and throw the race to the Democrats.
But that got complicated last week after a video interview with the Democrat front-runner for the seat, Minddie Lloyd, went public. To say it was a disaster would be a monumental understatement.
Even liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston – a dependable mouthpiece for Democrats – trashed Lloyd’s performance:
“This interview with a candidate anointed by the Dem powers that be and some electeds is one of the worst, most cringeworthy I have seen in years, and it’s for a critical seat on an important body. So embarrassing.”
If you missed it, click here.
The interview was so bad – Lloyd is completely out of her depth in this race – that either Kasama or Mack should be able to overcome the bleed of GOP voters to Harris in November.
As for the Kasama/Mack race, Mack appears to be gaining traction, especially among GOP grassroots activists.
He raised all the money he’s going to need for the primary last year and has turned his attention to voters, while Kasama is still struggling to keep up in the money chase.
Kasama is also burdened by her remote vote from Cabo for the Hollywood Handout during November’s special election and blowback from her campaign’s use of doctored fake photographs of Mack supposedly sporting a Hillary Clinton t-shirt.
Those fake photos and signs resulted in five former Clark County GOP chairman inking a letter endorsing Mack – and additional conservative endorsements are likely in the works.
And while Mack seems to be showing up wherever two or more grassroots activists are gathering in the GOP’s name, the natives are getting restless over Kasama being AWOL, with complaints that she’s harder to find than Waldo.
If Mack’s support continues to build while “Cabo Kasama’s” continues to shrink, don’t be surprised to see a big upset in this race in June.
And unless Lloyd somehow finds a way to recover from her disastrous interview, Mack would have a good chance to join the commission’s only Republican, April Becker, on the dais despite Harris’ skunk-at-the-picnic vanity campaign.
Keep an eye on this GOP primary race over the next eight weeks. It’s gonna be a barn-burner.
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.