With Gov. Ron DeSantis due in Nevada on Saturday to campaign at a festival celebrating lamb testicles, Democratic-aligned political activists insist the broader electorate in that state will be cool to the presidential candidate’s message.
DeSantis, accompanied by former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, is scheduled to attend the Basque Fry in Gardnerville, Nev., population 6,037.
“Gov. DeSantis speaks to a very particular segment of the voting population here,” Shelbie Swartz, development manager of Battle Born Progress, a progressive organization, said during a Zoom call Friday with reporters. Nevada is known as the Battle Born state because it joined the Union during the Civil War.
“There are some issues that are truly bipartisan in their support here, and by that I mean abortion. Abortion is widely popular. There is a reason why Gov. Lombardo has had to sign bills like SB 131 [protecting abortion access] into law, because it would be wildly unpopular for him to not,” Swarz said
She referred to Joe Lombardo, Nevada’s Republican governor. Although the GOP controls the governor’s mansion, Democrats control the offices of attorney general, secretary of state, and both chambers of the legislature. Laxalt, who attended the Naval Justice School with DeSantis, learning to be military lawyers, lost races for governor and U.S. senator in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
“If the track record of Gov. DeSantis’ former roommate Adam Laxalt has anything to say about the reception that Gov. DeSantis might see here on a broader scale, I don’t think he is someone that Nevadans would be very warm to,” Swarz said.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, has done well in GOP caucuses in the state but lost it to Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in 2016 and 2020, respectively.
Nevada’s presidential primaries for both parties are scheduled for Feb. 6. For the Democrats, that would be the second delegate quest after South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire having been demoted from their first-in-the-nation status.
‘Really strong independent spirit’
Dawn Etcheverry, president of the Nevada State Education Association, suggested DeSantis might find a receptive audience in Gardnerville. “There’s a reason you find that his meeting is in a very rural county,” she said. But “the state speaks loudly against a lot of things the governor stands for.”
Macy Haverda, president of the Wild West Access Fund, which helps finance abortion access, said her fellow Nevadans would recoil from DeSantis’ abortion policies. Most recently, he signed Florida’s six-week abortion ban into law. However, the six-week ban won’t take effect unless the Florida Supreme Court upholds a 15-week ban passed last year.
“Nevadans really just don’t like being told what to do. We have a really strong independent spirit, Haverda said.
Participants in the call noted that Lombardo, although aligned with DeSantis on loose gun laws, signed a measure barring the state from cooperating in the arrest or extradition of someone charged in another state for abortion-related crimes unless also a crime in Nevada. Abortion is legal in Nevada up to 24 weeks in pregnancy and beyond if the life of the mother is in jeopardy.
Floridians participated in the call, too, including state Rep. Dotie Joseph of Miami-Dade County, who argued that DeSantis has presided over sharply rising housing, health care, utility, and insurance costs.
“Make no mistake: If he’s elected to be president, Ron DeSantis will push for the same near-total [abortion] ban at the federal level,” former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell said.
“Nevada, this is your future if Ron and his extreme agenda enter the White House.”
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix