John Lee, in a 2022 campaign video.
Policy, politics and progressive commentary
Only one of Nevada’s U.S. House primaries saw no victor declared on election night.
John Lee, the former North Las Vegas mayor backed by President Donald Trump, as of late Tuesday was ahead by around 800 votes over David Flippo in the Republican primary for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District. The winner will in November face Democratic U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, who, like his fellow incumbents, sailed to an easy victory in a noncompetitive primary.
In Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Susie Lee is now set for a challenge from Drew Johnson, a think tank founder and policy analyst. The Associated Press called the crowded race for Johnson on Tuesday night.
The AP also projected retired Army colonel Mark Robertson as the winner in the Republican primary for Nevada’s 1st Congressional District. Robertson will go on to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, who had no primary challenger.
The Nevada delegation’s lone Republican, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei easily won his primary. He will face no Democrat in the general.
Democrats are attempting to flip the House, which Republicans control with a razor-thin majority. In their efforts to regain control, they must retain their current seats.
Trump pick leads in CD4 GOP primary
The 4th Congressional District, which is currently deemed “likely Democrat” according to The Cook Political Report, has been held by a Democrat every cycle except in 2014, when Horsford lost.
He regained the seat in 2018 and has held it since.
John Lee was the only House candidate in Nevada to receive Trump’s endorsement. Lee is also backed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Lee was ahead by around 2,000 votes as of Tuesday night.
Trailing Lee is David Flippo, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who previously came in third in an Assembly Republican primary in 2022. In a distant third is Bruce Frazy, a former attorney and accountant.
Lee previously served as a Democrat in the Nevada State Assembly and Senate but was ousted in a primary in 2012. The next year, he was elected North Las Vegas mayor, a nonpartisan position. He switched his party affiliation to Republican ahead of a failed gubernatorial run in 2022.
During that race Lee wrote an op-ed for the Reno Gazette Journal citing his opposition to abortion rights as a key reason he left the Democratic Party.
Horsford won against first-time candidate Levy Shultz.
Johnson wins competitive CD3 GOP primary
U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, who has represented the 3rd Congressional District since 2018, won her primary against RockAthena Brittain, who sought to be the first transgender woman elected to Nevada’s congressional delegation.
Drew Johnson, who narrowly lost a bid against Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones in 2022, emerged as the winner of the Republican primary, which included Dan Schwartz, who made his second bid to win a Republican CD3 primary, music composer and first-time candidate Marty O’Donnell, who was endorsed by Lombardo and Elon Musk, and former state Sen. Elizabeth Helgelien.
“The pundits didn’t give us a chance, but we outworked our opponents and overperformed expectations,” Johnson said in a victory statement.
The statement goes on to say Lee is “ethically bankrupt” and has failed the state “by using her office to enrich herself and serving as a rubber stamp for the failed Biden administration.”
Lee, in her own statement earlier, took her own jabs, saying, “Southern Nevada’s strong future is under attack by far-right extremists who will bow to big corporations and the ultra-wealthy and make the working class pay. They want to ban abortion including here in Nevada with no exceptions for rape and incest, put a stranglehold on job creation, gut Social Security and Medicare, and leave our veterans behind. They are in it for themselves, not to help the hardworking families and seniors in southern Nevada.”
Titus to face 2022 challenger
In Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, U.S. Rep Dina Titus is now set for a rematch against Mark Robertson, who she beat by nearly 6 percentage points in 2022.
“I have beaten Mr. Robertson before and I look forward to beating him again this November,” Titus said in a statement after Robertson was declared the winner.
Robertson faced off against Flemming Larsen, who narrowly lost a state Assembly run in 2022.
And Amodei…
In Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei easily fended off a longshot challenge from Dr. Fred SImon, a trauma surgeon. Amodei will not face a Democratic challenger in November, as nobody filed to compete in the reliably red congressional district.
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