Nevada Is Promising for Republicans. Just Don’t Look Down Ballot.

Republicans are on the cusp of blowing a quartet of congressional races in a state where Trump is highly competitive.

Sam Brown
“Sam Brown has run a very, very, very bad campaign, one of the worst campaigns we’ve seen in Nevada in a while,” said one Republican operative in Nevada. John Locher/AP

Nevada shows all signs of being favorable for Republicans this year: The state has trended to the right, Latino voters are increasingly open to the GOP and polls show Donald Trump running competitively at the top of the ticket.

But down the ballot, the political situation is decidedly less rosy for Nevada Republicans.

The party’s congressional candidates are struggling to gain traction in a quartet of races that should, on paper, be competitive, threatening the GOP’s efforts to hold the House and win the Senate. Republicans in the state blame the fizzle on a combination of abortion’s continued resonance with voters, aggressive Democratic campaigns and underfunded GOP nominees.