Nevada’s dueling elections pose confusion risk for GOP voters
LAS VEGAS — Nevada is a pivotal early state on the 2024 election calendar, but it’s gotten much less attention than leadoff Iowa and New Hampshire.
Not this weekend. Most of the Republican presidential candidates are in Las Vegas for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting, which has taken on greater significance this year because of the Israel-Hamas war. Donald Trump, the front-runner for the party’s nomination, will follow his speech before that group with an evening appearance at a campaign organizing event where his team will try to lock in commitments from voters who may attend the Feb. 8 caucuses.
With the support of the former president’s allies, Nevada will have a primary election Feb. 6, as required by state law, and caucuses two days later that are run by the state party. That setup has drawn criticism from within the Nevada GOP about potential voter confusion and concerns that the state party is attempting to tilt the scale for Trump.
A state-run ballot will be mailed to every resident before the primary; Nevada law requires universal mail ballots for primary and general elections. But the party-run caucus meetings will decide who wins Nevada’s delegates for the nomination. The caucuses will depend on the party apparatus and the candidates’ campaigns to educate voters.
“I hate it for our voters because of course they’re going to be confused,” said Will Bradley, a member of the Nevada Republican Party Central Committee. “But I respect that I’m in the minority, and I got outvoted. So I’ll do what I can to help the caucus succeed.”
Trump is trying to woo potential Nevada caucusgoers at events similar to earlier ones in Iowa.
Trump’s Nevada state director, Alida Benson, moved to his campaign in July after serving as the state party’s executive director. The party chair, Michael McDonald, was a false elector for Trump in 2020, when allies of the then-president tried to nominate Republican voters to the Electoral College in states that Democrat Joe Biden won.
McDonald has long argued that caucuses favor grassroots support and boots-on-the-ground campaigning. He pushed for the caucuses despite a state law requiring a presidential primary, because the Democraticcontrolled Legislature refused to consider Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s election-related proposals, most notably a voter ID requirement.
A caucus “gives each candidate the opportunity to perform. It’s about getting their people out,” McDonald said in an interview last month. “And my job, as well as my goal, is to have the candidates get to know all our counties.”