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Nevada Democrats sound alarm as election denier leads secretary of state race
We need to worry about these races
Link to tweet
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nevada-democrats-sound-alarm-election-denier-leads-secretary-state-rac-rcna50250
— Jim Marchant, the election-denying Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, has so far been outspent and out campaigned by his Democratic opponent. But as the first counties in the state begin to mail out ballots to voters, he has consistently polled ahead of Democrat Cisco Aguilar.
Democratic groups have rushed in with ad buys and organizing efforts to try to boost Aguilar’s prospects in the key battleground state. But some within the party have sounded the alarm that it's not enough.
“Marchant can’t be trusted, but I just don’t think a lot of people are even paying attention to the race,” said Donna West, a former chair of the Clark County Democratic Party who now volunteers as an organizer for the county party. “We’ve been knocking on doors, and people aren’t aware of the race. They still don’t understand what the secretary of state does.”
The comments by West and others interviewed by NBC News underscore the uphill climb faced by Democrats in winning the office in Nevada, and in other purple states. Along with Arizona and Michigan, Nevada is one of several key battlegrounds where an election denier backed by former President Donald Trump is running for secretary of state, a position that in most states oversees elections. Nonpartisan groups monitoring races with election deniers, like States United Action, as well as election experts in academia, warn that any of those candidates winning could contribute to an even more robust effort to overturn the next presidential election.
Marchant's lead in the polls comes despite him holding few public events and not running any ads. But on Saturday, he is set to join Trump at a rally in Reno to boost Republican candidates up and down the ticket. The former president is holding a similar rally in Mesa, Ariz., on Sunday.
In recent days, Democratic-aligned groups have jumped into the Nevada race, releasing television ads slamming Marchant — who falsely claims Trump defeated Joe Biden in Nevada and has said he wouldn’t have certified the results there in 2020 — and attempting to educate voters on the role of the office.
Democratic groups have rushed in with ad buys and organizing efforts to try to boost Aguilar’s prospects in the key battleground state. But some within the party have sounded the alarm that it's not enough.
“Marchant can’t be trusted, but I just don’t think a lot of people are even paying attention to the race,” said Donna West, a former chair of the Clark County Democratic Party who now volunteers as an organizer for the county party. “We’ve been knocking on doors, and people aren’t aware of the race. They still don’t understand what the secretary of state does.”
The comments by West and others interviewed by NBC News underscore the uphill climb faced by Democrats in winning the office in Nevada, and in other purple states. Along with Arizona and Michigan, Nevada is one of several key battlegrounds where an election denier backed by former President Donald Trump is running for secretary of state, a position that in most states oversees elections. Nonpartisan groups monitoring races with election deniers, like States United Action, as well as election experts in academia, warn that any of those candidates winning could contribute to an even more robust effort to overturn the next presidential election.
Marchant's lead in the polls comes despite him holding few public events and not running any ads. But on Saturday, he is set to join Trump at a rally in Reno to boost Republican candidates up and down the ticket. The former president is holding a similar rally in Mesa, Ariz., on Sunday.
In recent days, Democratic-aligned groups have jumped into the Nevada race, releasing television ads slamming Marchant — who falsely claims Trump defeated Joe Biden in Nevada and has said he wouldn’t have certified the results there in 2020 — and attempting to educate voters on the role of the office.