Progressives Lead Nevada's Democratic Party and Produce Major Wins
The 2022 midterms saw Democrats gain ground in the pivotal swing state, so why are establishment Democrats throwing a fit?
Topline Takeaways
- Despite losing the governorship, Democrats won big in Nevada during the 2022 midterms. The party swept all 3 of the state’s battleground House races while also holding their Senate seat.
- Wins reverberated down the ballot as well: Democrats gained three seats in the state legislature. This puts Democrats only one seat away from holding veto proof super-majorities across both chambers.
- This success occurred during a tumultuous period for the Nevada Democratic Party. Progressives swept party leadership positions ahead of the midterm elections and establishment Democrats retaliated by resigning en masse, taking campaign funds with them to start their own ‘shadow party.’
Nevada Democrats Win Big
The Democratic Party’s success in Nevada this past election cycle has been under-reported. To start: three of Nevada’s four US House seats were widely discussed as the most competitive races in 2022. Democrats defied the odds and held all 3 seats without agonizingly close margins. This was a shock to political insiders primarily because Nevada’s House Republican candidates were more moderate (i.e. electable) than far-right nominees seen in other states. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the Senate’s first Latina member in US history, also held on to her seat, albeit by an incredibly close margin that led it to be one of the last Senate races called in 2022.
What has gone almost completely unnoticed is Democrats’ success in cementing power in the state legislature. Two seats in the State Assembly and one in the State Senate flipped for Democrats in the state’s down-ballot races. This gives the party a veto-proof supermajority in the Nevada State Assembly and puts them only a single vote away from a veto-proof supermajority in the State Senate. As a result, the party has recently pushed through pivotal human rights bills protecting Nevadans’ access to abortion and gender-affirming care.
The only loss Democrats really have to complain about is the governorship. Former Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) is known as the only Democratic incumbent governor in the nation to lose his seat during the 2022 elections. (And the loss wasn’t necessarily a surprise: Sisolak never polled ahead of his opponent Joe Lombardo.)
Establishment Dems Are Sore Losers
Despite Nevada Democrats winning close races AND making electoral gains, there’s a lot of chatter about the ‘implosion’ of the Nevada Democratic Party. This narrative has primarily come from establishment Democrats angry at the party’s recent shift toward progressive leadership. Back in 2021, progressives from the Democratic Socialists of America swept the Nevada Democratic Party leadership elections with Judith Whitmer elected as the new party chair. In retaliation, establishment Democrats threw a temper tantrum. The entire party’s staff resigned as they handed Whitmer the keys, leaving her with a hollowed out party infrastructure in advance of the 2022 midterms.
“There was nobody in the building today… We have no idea when the staff members’ last days were. I think most left after the coordinated campaign, and most were working from home. I think there were only four or five left on the payroll, but I don’t know.”
-Judith Whitmer, explaining her first days as Nevada Democratic Party Chair
Whitmer was forced to rebuild the Nevada Democratic Party from the ground up, temporarily relying on volunteers to run day-to-day operations while hiring new staff members. The party was also strapped for cash as the previous staff had transferred $450,000 from state party coffers to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee just before calling it quits. Where did those establishment Democrats go? They headed up north to Washoe County and started their own “shadow party:” dubbed Nevada Democratic Victory. The two parties operated concurrently, but not cooperatively, throughout the 2022 midterms as Whitmer explains below…
“We’ve supported [Nevada Democratic Victory’s] work, but we haven’t been working together or coordinating any of our efforts. We focused heavily on down-ballot races while they took the top of the ticket. But, of course, we’ve done everything we can to support all of our candidates.”
-Judith Whitmer
Nevada Democratic Victory corroborated Whitmer’s delineation of duties with an announcement of their own in early 2022: proclaiming that they would take on the duties of running a “coordinated campaign supporting Nevada’s top Democrats.”
So if we’re reading all of this correctly: Whitmer’s wing of the party is responsible for gains in the state legislature while establishment Democrats are to blame for Sisolak’s loss. This makes the recent decision to oust Whitmer from her leadership position all the more concerning.
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno was recently elected to succeed Whitmer as the new Nevada Democratic Party Chair. She explicitly ran on a “unity” slate: promising to bridge the yawning gap between the two wings of the party. Personally, I’m nervous for Nevada Democrats in 2024 because while establishment Dems sure say a lot about unity, they are the ones causing divisions and pushing progressives out of the party.
“This is our lesson, and we hope socialists everywhere will pay close attention: the Democratic Party is a dead end. It is a “party” in name only; truly, it is simply a tangled web of dark money and mega-donors, cynical consultants, and lapdog politicians. The establishment is Lucy with the football: no matter how effectively socialists organize for power, the establishment will simply pull the football away, using dirtier and dirtier tricks.”
-a press release from the Las Vegas chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America
