President Trump’s once gleaming endorsement record this cycle looked shaky going into Tuesday’s primaries.
He suffered his first loss of the year after Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA 04) came up short in the Iowa gubernatorial primary despite the president’s support. But he notched a big win in NV-02 on Tuesday, carrying 2024 NV-04 candidate David Flippo (R) over former state Sen. James Settelmeyer (R), who had the backing of Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and retiring Rep. Mark Amodei (R).
The results are more a demonstration of the president’s continuing power in the party than an indication of Lombardo’s sway. Flippo is now likely to win the general election in the district, which The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rated Solid Republican and which Trump carried by 14 points in 2024.
Flippo was originally running in the more competitive NV-04, which includes the northern part of Clark County and parts of Las Vegas. He switched to NV-02, which encompasses the northern half of the state, including Reno and Carson City, after Amodei announced he would not seek reelection and 2024 SEN nominee Sam Brown (R) passed on a run. His victory marks a shift in priorities for Republicans in Northern Nevada.
“That north-south split at least used to matter a great deal in Nevada politics,” Jeremy Gelman, a political science professor at the University of Nevada Reno, told Hotline. “Having a southern Nevada politician moving up here trying to run for a House seat would have been unthinkable a few decades ago.”
When Amodei first rose to prominence in Nevada politics, “there was still this good old boy network that really dominated,” Assemblymember Danielle Gallant (R) told Hotline. Now, the power of those backrooms has diminished.
Settelmeyer relied on his longtime roots in Douglas County, but he was unable to withstand Flippo’s attacks that he was not conservative enough. For his part, Flippo leaned on his military background and Air Force career.
"If the litmus test is, 'Well, you're not a fourth generation from here, well, then we would have no veterans in Congress right now,'" Flippo said at a campaign stop last month. "I've made Nevada my home. 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."
—Erika Filter
