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In the race to be the next governor of Nevada, Republican Brian Sandoval continues to maintain a solid double-digit lead over his Democratic opponent, Rory Reid, son of Democratic Senate leader Harry, according to a new Mason-Dixon poll for “Las Vegas Review-Journal.”
Mason-Dixon 7/12-14
Brian Sandoval 47
Rory Reid 36
Other 3
None of these 7
Undecided 7
In his own race to retain his Senate seat, it appears Majority Leader (and Rory’s dad) Harry Reid’s recent surge in the polls is mainly due to GOP rival Sharron Angle’s gaffes, and it’s not translating into a statewide movement toward Democrats. Rory Reid is suffering from a serious favorability problem. From “Las Vegas Review-Journal”:
Sandoval, a former federal judge and attorney general, received a 45 percent favorable, 19 percent unfavorable rating.
Reid, an attorney who is chairman of the Clark County Commission, had a 29 percent favorable, 38 percent unfavorable rating.
Having two men named Reid at the top of the ballot can’t be good news for down-ticket Democrats. The father-son combo has the uncomfortable feel of being an ultimate political insiders’ ticket. Both are unpopular and have high unfavorable ratings. Even if Harry Reid wins, it will likely be a small plurality victory, mainly because Angle is viewed as a completely unacceptable alternative. They are not the top-ticket Democrats who will generate excitement with base voters, drive turnout or promote the Democratic brand with independents. That could be a real problem for people like Democrat Dina Titus, who represents Nevada’s third Congressional district. She holds only a two-point lead over Republican Joe Heck.
Mason-Dixon (7/12-14)
Dina Titus 42
Joe Heck 40
Other 5
None of these 4
Undecided 9
With very high unemployment and unpopular top-ticket candidates, Nevada is going to be a tough place for down-ticket incumbent Democrats.
7 Comments
Very poor planning for both Reids to be on the ballot. We all know that Harry doesn’t plan well.
you don’t ever want to run a father soon combo.
Not to mention that Harry has no coattails.
Smacks of corruption big time.
How the heck did this dynamic materialize ?
I am sure no real reasonable explanation…..and that is exactly why it is corrupt.
quite frankly anything that involves Harry Reid contains 2 things,
corruption & ineptitude.
I think it woulds save you guys heaps of money and time if you just went back to that old system of heriditary seats.Really! :)
There’s a very reasonable explanation: we didn’t have any other Democratic candidates who wanted to run against Brian Sandoval (the fact that Governor Gibbons was running was really irrelevant because he’s politically dead to the movers-and-shakers in the state).
Dina Titus (whom Gibbons beat in 2006) is now a Congresswoman and wasn’t interested in another bruising fight.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is a colorful character, but was more likely to run as an Independent than as a Dem.
Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley? She was interested, but the absolutely useless 2009 Legislative Session killed her chances out of the gate. Besides, she wields more power with her supermajority.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford? Same as Buckley, but with much less experience (this last Leg session was his first as Leader).
But frankly, there isn’t much difference between the two candidates. Both have vowed not to raise taxes or reform Nevada’s tax structure (something that is desperately needed because this state is about half a step from total financial collapse).
I’ll probably end up voting “none of these”.
Why couldn’t Sharron Angle have run for both Senator and Governor at the same time? That would have guaranteed wins for both Reids.