It is a period of civil war in the Nevada Democratic
Party. The well-oiled machine the late Harry Reid built that ushered in a
period of Democratic dominance could be over. The remnants of Reid’s
operation have been purged from the reins of power as the far left swept
the leadership races, and while some of Reid’s top allies, like Rebecca
Lambe, have tried to broach a discussion that could lead to
reunification, tensions have now boiled over. In October of 2022, we
were warned that a crackup
was coming. While Reid’s political infrastructure, established to save
him from the incoming Tea Party wave in 2010, may have defended
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto from a serious challenge from
Republican Adam Laxalt—it might be viewed as a last hurrah. It’s getting
particularly nasty over there (via NBC News):
A fierce power struggle has broken out over who will run
the Democratic Party in Nevada, a pivotal 2024 battleground that last
year determined the balance of the Senate.
And it’s getting ugly.
There
are calls for the sitting chair’s resignation. There are accusations
that Democratic Party Chair Judith Whitmer steered contracts to allies.
Two sparring sides accuse each other of attempting to fracture the
party.
And new documents obtained by NBC News display the depths
of the divisions and how they played out in the run-up to one of the
closest Senate races in the nation.
Whitmer, part of a slate of
democratic socialists who took over the party in March 2021, now fights
to hang on ahead of her March 4 re-election, where she faces a challenge
from Nevada Assemblywoman Daniele Munroe-Moreno.
“They’re launching a smear campaign against me, personally,” Whitmer said in an interview with NBC News.
A
central part of the drama over Whitmer's tenure has been the decision
by a group of previous party leaders to, a few months after she took
over, break off from her control and form a rival Democratic entity in
Washoe County called Nevada Democratic Victory. It essentially became a
shadow party apparatus with aides tied to more establishment Democrats
in the state, including Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.
There were even discussions to de-charter Washoe County
Democrats from the state party, the key county where Cortez Masto found
political salvation. All of this with a tight re-election in the
backdrop; the far left contingent was mulling ways to set off a grenade
in their tent. This action item was never acted upon, but as NBC News
noted, it exemplified the divide and division among Nevada Democrats
that they would consider poisoning their well.
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