On the approach of taking over as Nevada’s top elections official, a prominent supporter of the bogus narrative that the 2020 election was rigged, who would then be in charge of overseeing voting in the crucial swing state for the 2024 presidential election.
Jim Marchant, a Republican, has a tight race for secretary of state, and if he wins, he might profoundly alter how elections are conducted in this country, with significant implications for Nevada. Despite evidence showing hand counts of votes are more prone to error than machine counts and could generally make voting in the state more challenging, he has called for abolishing postal voting, restricting early voting, and pushing for hand counts of ballots. The state and the country may descend into turmoil if he later refused to certify correct election results.
And Marchant is not alone in his views; he is the leader of a group of hard-right, non-candidates for office in Michigan, Arizona, and other states who hold like views. Marchant, who spoke with former President Donald Trump at a rally last month, asserted that his class of pro-Trump secretaries of state would “repair the whole country” and ensure that Trump would run for office once more in 2024.
Cisco Aguilar, Marchant’s Democratic rival, claims that despite everything, he is still not receiving the support he needs to win.
Previously unknown and frequently disregarded, secretary of state races are now at the forefront of the fight over how Americans cast their ballots. Aguilar, a first-time candidate who is up against Marchant, doesn’t think his campaign has received the support and funding it merits, especially in light of the consequences for the next presidential election. Instead, according to Aguilar, his party hasn’t really engaged.
In an interview with AWN in between performances in Reno, Nevada, Aguilar claimed that “nobody will take my calls.” “That is the annoying part. Nobody will talk to you about what you’re going through despite the fact that you’re battling so hard.
People in Nevada anticipate that I will be running for office alongside the governor and a senatorial position, Aguilar stated. “A US senator has $40 or $50 million? Our governor has $15 million in total? I possess $2 million.
Aguilar and other candidates who are similar to him face a contradiction. As of mid-October, Aguilar reported raising $2.2 million, little less than double the combined sum of money raised by both Democratic contenders for the position in 2018. The Democratic candidate is still raising records for an office that often receives little attention. Republicans have fallen behind in advertising in crucial states to the few Democratic outside groups that are focused on these elections. The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, the primary committee of the party tasked with electing these contenders, has already begun its most expensive TV ad campaign ever, spending $11 million in Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada.
Even in Las Vegas, which has developed into one of the most congested and pricey media markets of the 2022 election, the investment is still insignificant in comparison to contested congressional and gubernatorial races.
An interview request from AWN was ignored by the Marchant campaign. The far-right media, which frequently amplifies their inaccurate information on the 2020 election, is where he and other coalition members want to engage with the press on a daily basis.
Marchant recently stated in an interview with a group named Legacy PAC, which was recorded by a liberal tracking organisation, “Secretary of State elections are vital to our country, this cycle especially.” I received a request to run for secretary of state. We have influence over the electoral process, therefore I concurred.
For his part, Aguilar ran for office with the goals of protecting voting rights and updating Nevada’s cumbersome and antiquated business filing system, a complex but crucial component of the secretary of state’s office. Rather, the future of democracy in one of the most crucial battleground states has become the only thing that matters in his contest.
The announcement of the [GOP] primary results “just hit me like a tonne of bricks,” Aguilar remarked. “This is about Nevada’s overall future. Democratic or Republican priorities are no longer relevant. For all of us, Nevada’s future is at stake.
