Anyone who is on the email list for the Democratic Party never has an empty inbox. We are kept apprised of news about the latest GOP atrocities, followed by URGENT requests for donations to help the Democratic candidate. When it comes to the U.S. Senate race for Nevada, however, this is a critical election. This is no time for voter apathy because the Koch brothers have decided to go in big to turn Nevada an ugly shade of red.
If Harry Reid's hand-picked successor, former Nevada A.G. Catherine Cortez-Masto doesn't win this race, this state will be represented by two crazy ammosexuals. Sen. Heller won in 2012 by only 12,000 votes and has helped Republicans obstruct any laws that would tighten gun regulations. Masto is endorsed by Nevada Law Enforcement, and has an impressive list of accomplishments.
An alarming number of conservative PACs are desperate to keep the Senate in GOP hands, setting their sites on competitive races like Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and most importantly, Nevada. The Senate Leadership Fund, is a PAC with a singular purpose: "to protect and expand the Republican Senate Majority." They are spending the same amount on Nevada as they are on Pennsylvania. Nevada has roughly 2.9 million residents while Pa. has close to 13 million, which shows just how valuable this race is to the right wing financiers.
They are going to spend unprecedented sums in
Nevada – $6 million (three weeks in September; three weeks in October)
The Senate Leadership Fund isn't alone. The Koch Brothers Freedom Partners Action Fund is spending over half a million on ads against Masto at the end of July just for a two day period!
Negative ads abound already in Nevada, as Masto's Koch-funded opponents want to portray her as the anti-job creating Democrat who hates free-enterprise. So they created this story about how she single-handedly shut down Uber in Las Vegas. The $1.2 million blitz was funded by none other than Freedom Partners Action Fund, preparing Nevadans to distrust a good candidate, as is their modus operandi. Even Politfact rates the campaign Mostly False.
Uber’s normal strategy of legally questionable, high-profile launches was a more difficult bar to clear in Nevada, where the closely-regulated taxi market is ruled by incredibly strict regulations. The rules include an explicit prohibition in state law on any company entering the market unless it can prove it wouldn’t "adversely affect other carriers operating in the territory."
Despite being told by regulators that Uber would need to apply under existing rules for new taxi companies, the company argued its non-traditional business model didn’t fall under decades-old state regulations.
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(Freedom Partners') ad also neglects to mention how Uber only temporarily left town. The ridesharing service is very much up and running through Nevada a year after its initial skirmish with the state.
Because this ad takes things out of context, we rate it Mostly False.
Masto has a laudable record of defending children, the elderly and the marginalized poor of Nevada. Cortez-Masto is far superior to her opponent; she is more ethical and very committed to the people of Nevada, not the 1%. Republican Rep. Joe Heck, who has incredibly dangerous views on privatizing Social Security, gun proliferation and denying science, is truly the worst replacement imaginable for Harry Reid. Our friends at LetsTalkNevada have done extensive work on Heck. More on that guy at a later date.
Republicans can't claim they have the market cornered on law and order. Here's the recent endorsement from essentially every police-affiliated group. The police don't have Koch cash and their support won't stop the lying Kochtopus from trying to malign her.
With Trump at the helm of a party in chaos, wealthy Republican financiers, for the most part, have written off The Apprentice, Executive Edition. It's true, they've pretty much given up on a few states like Wisconsin (Ron Johnson) and Illinois (Kirk), but they are all in for Joe Heck in Nevada. Don't become complacent because their POTUS candidate is so awful, they are dead serious about keeping control of Congress.
We cannot forget the number of 'frustrated' Democrats who decided to forego their voting responsibilities in 2010 and 2014, simply because they were unhappy with the pace of progress In retrospect, there was no way to imagine the unprecedented disrespect, racial animus and obstructionism President Obama had to endure after inheriting Bush's mess. How quickly Democrats turned on a man who will be very propitiously viewed by history, as long as the history isn't written by Texas textbook revisionists. President Obama's midterms were catastrophic for millions of Americans, which proves that voter apathy is dangerous and unacceptable. We must help our next (D) POTUS with a Progressive Senate and Nevada is a good place to send a donation.
Click here if you care about keeping Harry Reid's Nevada seat in Democratic hands.
