Morning Digest: 'I don’t have a hometown,' says Republican who just moved from Vegas to northern Nevada

Local Republicans were upset about David Flippo's lack of ties to the area. Democrats now hope to exploit the issue.

Screenshot of an ad attacking Nevada Republican Dave Flippo as “Vegas Dave” (credit: Conservatives for American Excellence)

Leading Off

NV-02

The Associated Press projected Wednesday morning that Air Force veteran David Flippo had decisively won the Republican nomination for Nevada’s open 2nd Congressional District, a development Democrats hope will give them an opening to flip a conservative constituency they’ve never held before.

Flippo, who picked up Donald Trump’s endorsement late in the campaign, will take on former state Assembly Majority Leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson, who easily secured the Democratic nod on Tuesday.

During the primary, Benitez-Thompson highlighted her long history in northern Nevada, while Flippo spent the race on the receiving end of attacks portraying him as an interloper from the wrong end of the state.

“Vegas Dave Flippo. He ran for Congress in Las Vegas,” began the narrator in a recent ad targeting him. “He’s a fraud just shopping for another political office.”

Retiring Rep. Mark Amodei has also taken issue with his would-be successor’s brief history in the 2nd District, a vast constituency home to the Reno area, the state capital of Carson City, and most of Nevada’s rural communities—a region often known as the “cow counties.”

“We’ve got a phenomenal tradition here of supporting people that are neighbors, people that are friends, people that have qualifications, people that work the issues, and people who call Nevada—our part of Nevada—home,” Amodei emphasized in a video in support of former state Senate Minority Leader James Settelmeyer ahead of the primary.

But Flippo, who moved some 400 miles north from Las Vegas to Reno after Amodei announced in February that he wouldn’t run again, has offered an unusual defense for his distinct lack of ties to the district.

“I’m from everywhere,” he told a clutch of supporters in remarks quoted by the Nevada Independent. “I don’t have a hometown.”

At the same event, he also argued that his military service prevented him from laying down deep roots anywhere.

“I’ve made Nevada my home,” he said. “I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else, other than maybe the Middle East, and I’ve lived here over a decade. So, I spent a lot of time in the Middle East, but I can’t run for Congress in the Middle East.”

Flippo, though, repeatedly struggled to launch his political career in Sin City.

In 2022, he unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for a state Assembly seat in Las Vegas. He then sought to challenge Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford in the 4th Congressional District, which is based in the northern Las Vegas area but also includes a slice of rural central Nevada. However, he narrowly lost the primary after Trump endorsed his main opponent.

Undeterred, Flippo announced last spring that he would again seek the GOP nomination to take on Horsford, but his new campaign to flip this blue-leaning district attracted relatively little attention as Trump’s declining approval ratings limited the GOP’s opportunities to go on offense.

Still, Flippo remained confident about his chances, tweeting in November, “This is how we will win, one vote, one street, one neighborhood at a time.”

But Amodei’s decision to retire convinced Flippo it was time to seek out new streets and new neighborhoods.

In March, he abruptly changed course, switching from the 4th District to the newly open—and far redder—2nd.

“[W]e need to give President Trump the firepower that he needs to fight the liberals in Washington,” he asserted in a video relaunching his campaign. This time, Trump responded favorably to his pitch by rewarding Flippo with his endorsement. That seal of approval helped Flippo blow past Settelmeyer, who had Amodei and Gov. Joe Lombardo in his corner.

Benitez-Thompson, however, thinks that local voters want something different than what Flippo has to offer. The Democrat, a former Miss Nevada who became the first Latina to serve as majority leader in the Assembly following the 2016 elections, has said she’s running “to represent Northern Nevada families, seniors, veterans, students, and immigrants - not Trump and DC.”

Benitez-Thompson, though, has a challenging task ahead of her as she tries to become the first Democrat to represent the 2nd District in its more than four decades of existence.

Following the 1980 census, Nevada, which had been confined to just a single at-large congressional district for more than a century, finally gained a second seat in the House. Republican Barbara Vucanovich won the 1982 race to become the first representative for the 2nd District in the northern half of the state, while Democrat Harry Reid revived his stalled political career by winning the 1st District in Las Vegas.

While strong population growth in and around Vegas led to the state earning a third, and later a fourth, congressional district in the 21st century, the 2nd has remained a GOP bastion centered on northern Nevada. Though Republicans haven’t always sailed to victory here―Democrats fell about 5 points short in both 1992 and 2006―the GOP has never lost.

Democrats last made a serious effort to flip the 2nd during a closely watched 2011 special election, but Amodei instead scored a blowout 58-36 win against Democratic state Treasurer Kate Marshall. (Marshall, whose political career survived that huge setback, took a strong first place on Tuesday in the nonpartisan primary for mayor of Reno.)

Amodei’s critics hoped to finally beat him in 2024 by consolidating around an independent rather than fielding a Democratic opponent. But Amodei went on to defeat Greg Kidd, a wealthy businessman who ran without a party affiliation, 55-36 as Trump was carrying his district 56-42.

Kidd decided to run as a Democrat shortly before Amodei announced he wouldn’t seek another term, but Benitez-Thompson easily defeated him on Tuesday.

Benitez-Thompson, however, has only raised around $80,000 from donors, though she argued to the Independent that she “knew I could outpeople” her well-heeled primary rival.

“I’ve lived in this community for a long, long time,” she said. “Heck, you know, even my best friend from elementary school is helping out on the campaign.”

Benitez-Thompson will need to dramatically up her fundraising game to have a chance of beating Flippo, but she may also benefit from a lack of unity in GOP ranks.

Notably, Settelmeyer did not mention Flippo at all in a statement acknowledging his loss. And Amodei’s most recent tweet is still one from late May telling Trump he’d made a “mistake” by backing Flippo.

“With all due respect Mr. President, Nevada already has five representatives who live in Clark County. Your endorsement if followed, would make it six out of six,” Amodei wrote last month. “CD-2 has been especially good to you throughout your three runs. This endorsement is an incredibly curious way to say thank you to those people who have been the bedrock of your political endeavors here in original Nevada.”

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The Downballot Podcast

Nancy Mace’s spectacular crashout

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace’s political career imploded in astonishing fashion on Tuesday night when she finished fifth in the GOP primary for governor—one of the most notable results that co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap on this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast. There’s also Lindsey Graham, who needed $15 million in outside help to survive a race against a guy who advocated for “medical cocaine,” plus several important uncalled races in Maine, where ranked-choice tabulations will determine the winners next week.

State Sen. Mike Gianaris also explains how New York Democrats are moving to counteract the GOP’s new turbocharged gerrymanders. Gianaris tells us why the state’s redistricting system, which was designed to prop up Republicans, is so broken, and how a new constitutional amendment would allow Democrats to enact a new congressional map before 2028. But, he cautions, the vote on that amendment—likely in November of next year—will be a difficult and expensive battle.

Governors

FL-Gov

Former Rep. David Jolly, the lone prominent Democrat seeking Florida’s open governorship, has tapped former Rep. Gwen Graham, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, as his running mate.

Graham, the daughter of the late Bob Graham, who served as both governor and senator, was a colleague of Jolly’s in the House during her lone term in office. (At the time, Jolly was still a Republican.) Their careers were both cut short in 2016, though, thanks to a new court-imposed map that made Graham’s district much redder and Jolly’s significantly bluer.

The following cycle, Graham waged a bid for governor but lost the Democratic primary to Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by a 34-31 margin. Gillum went on to lose to Republican Ron DeSantis by less than one percentage point.

The Jolly-Graham ticket is likely to face Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who has not yet picked a nominee for lieutenant governor.

House

CA-06, CA-22

The DCCC added former state Sen. Richard Pan and Visalia school board trustee Randy Villegas to its Red to Blue list for top candidates on Wednesday, after both of their primaries were called a day earlier.

Pan is facing Rep. Kevin Kiley, who ditched his Republican affiliation in March but still caucuses with the GOP, in California’s 6th District. Villegas, meanwhile, defeated a DCCC-backed candidate, Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, for the right to take on Republican Rep. David Valadao in California’s 22nd District.

FL-11

Wealthy businessman Joe Strada announced Tuesday that he’d run to replace retiring Rep. Dan Webster, a fellow Republican, saying he’d self-fund $5 million. Strada is one of several Republicans campaigning for the 11th District, a Central Florida constituency Donald Trump would have carried 57-42, though the lineup won’t be set until filing closes on Friday.

FL-24

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, one of the most prominent Democrats in South Florida, has endorsed County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert in the busy race to replace retiring Rep. Frederica Wilson in the safely blue 24th District.

And the field appears set to grow still larger. Attorney Kendrick Meek Jr., the son and namesake of Wilson’s immediate predecessor, filed paperwork with the state on Wednesday for a potential campaign. The younger Meek, whose grandmother, Carrie Meek, also held this seat, does not appear to have run for office before.

Several other Democrats are vying for this seat, including state Sen. Shevrin Jones, physician Rudy Moise, former County Commissioner Jean Monestime, and businesswoman Christine Sanon-Jules.

FL-28, FL-27

Businessman Hector Mujica said Wednesday he was ending his campaign against Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez because of what he characterized as “a voter registration discrepancy” that prevented him from continuing his bid for the Democratic nomination for Florida’s 28th District.

Mujica’s departure leaves Navy veteran Phil Ehr, who lost to Gimenez 65-35 in 2024, as the only notable Democrat in the race.

Florida Politics, though, reported earlier this week that Mujica has been encouraging former federal prosecutor Robin Peguero to take on Gimenez. Peguero, who faces a contested primary for the right to take on GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar in the neighboring 27th District, has not said anything publicly about such a switch ahead of Friday’s filing deadline.

Mujica had announced in April that he’d take on Gimenez in the 28th, a heavily Latino constituency in the Miami area. But his already challenging task of flipping this seat, which Donald Trump would have carried 62-37 in 2024, became just about impossible last month after Florida Politics reported that voter registration data showed he’d temporarily left the Democratic Party to become an independent less than a year ago.

State law requires that candidates spend the 365 days before candidate filing opens as a registered member of the party whose primary they want to run in. According to these records, though, Mujica only returned to the Democrats last July.

Mujica’s team responded by denying he’d changed his voter registration to no party affiliation last year, saying he’d fallen victim to a “clerical or administrative error” they were trying to fix. Mujica, though, said Wednesday that he’s now concluded there was no way to avoid “weeks of expensive litigation, uncertainty, and distraction” that would have overshadowed his campaign.

Poll Pile

• MI-Sen: Tulchin Research for Fighting For Michigan (pro-Abdul El-Sayed):

  • Abdul El-Sayed (D): 46, Mike Rogers (R): 41.

  • The release did not mention either of the other two Democrats running in the August primary.

• NV-Gov: GSG for Aaron Ford:

  • Joe Lombardo (R-inc): 45, Aaron Ford (D): 42.

  • The poll was conducted before Nevada’s primary, from May 5-11.

• FL-20 (D): Listener Group for Elijah Manley:

  • Debbie Wasserman Schultz (inc): 39, Elijah Manley: 21, Dale Holness: 15, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick: 3, Luther Campbell: 2, Maisha Williams: 1.

• MD-06 (D): Hart Research for April McClain Delaney:

  • April McClain Delaney (inc): 52, David Trone: 37.

  • Unreleased May poll: 49-34 Delaney.