Tag: Steve Sisolak

White, a Democratic Party political organizer and campaign strategist, was named the top staff member for new Nevada Gov. This past fall, Sisolak won the race for Nevada's top political post and became the state's first Democratic governor in 20 years. As White serves the governor in his role running state government, she relies on skills and insight she gained as a political science major at High Point University. "It allowed me to be in a place that took me out of the political bubble I was in," she told The High Point Enterprise. "I went and visited High Point and fell in love with the campus and the people there," she said. HPU Political Science Professor Mark Setzler, who taught White, said he's not surprised by her success. Setzler, whom White considers a mentor, sent her a personal note earlier this year when she was named chief of staff by Sisolak. The experience at HPU has served White well after she moved to Nevada following graduation and became engrossed in state politics. "Overall, I think there are more people who fall in the middle somewhere. White has advanced quickly in Nevada political circles since initially moving to Las Vegas after graduation from HPU to take a political organizing post.

Warren Hardy is a lobbyist and former Republican Nevada state senator. The real reason that happened was because they didn’t just hold their own in Washoe County they won it and they won it by substantial margins. If Washoe County continues to vote Democratic… then I think that Nevada might be a blue state and Republicans won’t have a path to victory unless they find a way to change that. Can Steve Sisolak move forward on changing Nevada’s gun laws? Reid: I think Governor-elect Sisolak was affected greatly by what happened October 1. Is the school choice idea gone in Nevada? Reid: First of all, those in favor of vouchers talk about choice. Well, we have choice in Nevada. Second thing, Warren would have us believe that if we had a voucher program everybody could just go to the private school of their choice that just isn’t true. The other thing that is wrong with the policy is that it has been shown not to work.

The midterm elections are ruining Thanksgiving – at least for a handful of families bitterly divided over relatives running for office. The latest political family feud to go public involves the Laxalt family, of which Adam Laxalt is running as the Republican nominee for Nevada governor. A dozen relatives essentially called him a big phony, in a scathing op-ed published this week in the Reno Gazette-Journal. “[W]e feel compelled to speak publicly about why we believe that Adam Laxalt is the wrong choice for Nevada’s governorship,” they wrote, out of a proclaimed interest to “protect our family name from being leveraged and exploited by Adam Laxalt.” The op-ed went on to question his Nevada-roots narrative: “The simple fact is that while he may have been born in Reno, he left as an infant and was raised on the East Coast, 3,000 miles away, in Washington, D.C., and moved here only in 2013, only one year later launching his political career. Aside from the occasional short visit, Adam never knew the state or its people.” They even mocked the candidate’s “Basque Fry” fundraiser: “This event perfectly captures the Adam Laxalt candidacy: the phoniness of the setting and costumes, the pretense of folksiness used as a prop for Washington power players …” When you’re dealing with family, some things just can’t be unsaid. Laxalt, the state attorney general, is running against businessman and Democrat Steve Sisolak, in a contest Fox News rates a "toss-up." At the time, a Republican group released an attack ad against Democratic candidate Randy Bryce, starring James Bryce. In the ad, James Bryce discussed his brother Randy’s criminal record and past comments about police officers. James Bryce, a police officer himself, lamented “cop-hating rhetoric” and said, “When people refer to police officers as terrorists – that hits a little close to home.” As James Bryce spoke, the video showed a 2012 tweet from Randy that linked to an article regarding arrests of demonstrators in the U.S. Capitol. The ad was released by the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC with ties to Ryan, the retiring House speaker.

LAS VEGAS ? Former President Barack Obama warned Nevadans on Monday that staying home during November’s midterm elections “would be profoundly dangerous to our democracy,” saying in a speech that these elections are “more important than any I can remember in my lifetime, and that includes when I was on the ballot.” “We have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics,” Obama said at a packed rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. “Ultimately there is only one real check on abuses of power, there’s only one real check on bad policy and that is you and your vote.” “Don’t boo. All that stuff is nice to do. Just vote!” he said, reprising a favorite line from his days on the presidential campaign trail. While he never called out President Donald Trump by name, Obama directly criticized some of his successor’s most controversial rhetoric and policies on issues like health care, immigration and the deficit. “I know you can bet on anything here in Vegas, but you don’t want to bet that Republicans are actually going to protect your health care,” Obama said at the event following an introduction by some Democrats on the ballot here, including Senate candidate Rep. Jacky Rosen and gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak. The former president urged the audience to “remember who started” the ongoing economic recovery Republicans are touting ahead of the November elections, noting that Democrats had to deal with a recession upon his election 10 years ago when the GOP ran “things into the ground.” And he poked fun at GOP deficit hawks who opposed his proposals then turned around and blew a hole in the nation’s budget by passing tax cuts that disproportionately benefited wealthy Americans. “I never knew if I was 100 percent Democrat before, but I feel that I know what I’m definitely not,” she added. The focus on turning out Hispanic voters was evident at the rally, which took place in a state with a rapidly growing Latino population. “Republicans right now are trying to say, ‘Democrats don’t think like you, look like you, or believe in the same things as you,’” he said.

-Written by Lena Felton (@lenakfelton) and Taylor Hosking (@Taylor__Hosking) Today in 5 Lines After a historic one-on-one meeting, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a joint agreement committing to pursue the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but did not provide a timetable for doing so. Trump also held a press conference where he announced that the U.S. and South Korea would suspend their joint military exercises as part of the negotiations. A group of GOP lawmakers have until the end of the day to produce three more signatures to force an immigration vote on June 25. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow remains in the hospital following a heart attack Monday night. Today on The Atlantic Kim Jong Un’s Propaganda Victory: The image that North Korea’s leader projected in Singapore—taking selfies with local leaders, sightseeing, and waving to onlookers—was a stark contrast to the one he was known for just a year ago. (Krishnadev Calamur) What Did the U.S. Gain From the North Korea Summit? But maybe it's the start of something, writes Uri Friedman. (Russell Berman) The Races We’re Watching Voters in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Virginia will select nominees in their state primaries. It's the first state to use ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank their candidates from first to last, to decide a statewide election. (The New Yorker) A Step Back: Here's how to measure whether the meeting between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un was a success or failure.

A progressive powerhouse in New York politics thinks Nevada is ready to move left. Giunchigliani is facing off in the Democratic primary against fellow commissioner Steve Sisolak, a candidate with a hefty war chest who began his campaign last summer by touting himself as a moderate. The group, known for its powerful and coordinated ground games, has also been instrumental in bringing policy issues such as a $15 minimum wage and government-mandated paid sick leave to the top of the national Democratic Party agenda. “My platform, I think, mirrors what they’ve been talking about,” Giunchigliani said. “I want to build a Nevada that works for everyone and not just the privileged few, and I think that resonates with them.” Dan Cantor, the national committee chairman for the WFP, said the group chose to endorse the Giunchigliani after an hourlong phone interview with her last month from which he and the other committee members came away with the same thought: “What is it about Nevada that is producing a leader like this? We want to bottle it,” he said. But unlike in most other places, third parties in New York can carry serious weight. There, minor parties can appear on the ballots and even cross-endorse candidates, meaning that a candidate’s name could appear multiple times on the ballot in the same race but with a different party endorsement next to their name. Three lines down, his name was listed next to the WFP endorsement. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, last week got himself a primary opponent in Cynthia Nixon, the actress known best for her role as Miranda in the HBO series “Sex and the City.” If Nixon can manage to get the WFP’s endorsement, Benjamin said, “the governor has a real problem.” In Nevada, however, where the minor parties have historically had less influence, Benjamin isn’t sure what kind of measurable effect its endorsement will have.