Nevada Democrats praised the achievements of President Joe Biden and his administration after he announced he was bowing out of the presidential race Sunday, and some Democrats and allied organizations wasted little time before echoing Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee.
“I cannot thank President Biden enough for saving America’s democracy in 2020 and paving the way for a new era of leadership, said Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in a statement. “I look forward to supporting Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket so we can once again defeat Donald Trump and far-right extremism.”
Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, had been an outspoken defender of Biden continuing at the top of the ticket in recent weeks. But Sunday Horsford, in a statement issued jointly with Gregory Meeks, chair of the CBC’s Political Action Committee, said they were “fully supporting Kamala Harris as our party’s nominee.”
While stopping short of explicitly endorsing Harris as the nominee, the Nevada State Democratic Party issued a statement saying “President Biden is absolutely right that Kamala Harris has been a phenomenal choice to serve as his Vice President. Her commitment to expanding health care coverage for thousands of Nevadans, lowering costs, and keeping our communities safe has helped grow Nevada’s economy, create good-paying union jobs, and protect our fundamental rights.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, who is being challenged in a competitive relection contest by Republican Sam Brown, has refrained from endorsing or even mentioning Biden’s name in statements since Biden’s shocking debate performance last month.
In a statement Sunday, Rosen continued keeping the Democratic presidential ticket at arm’s length, saying she is “focused on my job working for Nevada and continuing my record as one of the most bipartisan, independent, and effective Senators.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rep. Dina Titus likewise refrained from commenting on the top of their party’s ticket Sunday.
“I respect his deeply personal and courageous decision and look forward to working with him as he finishes his historic term,” Cortez Masto said of Biden.
“President Biden has made the most difficult decision of his five decades of public service,” said Titus. “Ultimately, he chose to put the interests of his nation above himself. That is the essence of a great President.”
Similarly, Nevada Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, in a joint statement with his Democratic Attorney Generals’ Association co-chair Kathy Jennnings of Delaware, did not explicitly back Harris as the nominee.
“We know exactly what a second Trump presidency would mean,” the AGs said. “For four years, Democratic AGs were the last line of defense and the biggest check on the Trump Administration, holding Trump accountable to the rule of law. We will do everything we can to ensure Democrats win up and down the ballot this fall in order to protect democracy, our constituents, and the rights of all Americans.”
The Nevada Republican Party issued a statement seeming to relish Biden’s announcement, saying it “underscores the deep divisions and uncertainty within the Democratic Party.”
That statement was also included in a fundraising email to supporters from the party, in which the Nevada GOP said Biden’s “dropping out of the race brings a whole new set of challenges against whatever Democrat we will face in November.”
Former President Barack Obama, in a statement praising his vice president, said the the decision to leave the race is “a testament to Joe Biden’s love of country — and a historic example of a genuine public servant once again putting the interests of the American people ahead of his own that future generations of leaders will do well to follow.”
“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama wrote. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
Several other prominent national Democratic figures and organizations quickly declared who they want that nominee to be.
“Now is the time to support Kamala Harris,” said Bill and Hillary Clinton in a joint statement.
Priorities USA, one of the Democrats’ largest Super PACs, said “Coming off of the past month, it is imperative that voters online hear clarity and not chaos for the remaining weeks of the election,” said the PAC’s executive directory, Danielle Butterfield.
“Priorities USA fully stands behind Vice President Kamala Harris as our next Democratic nominee. She is the best candidate to beat Donald Trump this November,” Butterfield said.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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