Indy Elections takes you behind the headlines of Nevada politics, delivering scoops and smart analysis on the races that could reshape our lives. You can change your newsletter settings here.
In today’s edition: The Supreme Court case you may not be watching, but should be. Plus: A Hiko rancher who lives in Summerlin, candidates flip-flopping on running, and an exclusive endorsement.
It’s the last edition of Indy Elections for 2025. We’ll be back in your inbox in January to celebrate — what else? Election year.
We want to hear from you! Email your newsletter editor Mini Racker at [email protected].
How SCOTUS could reshape elections in Nevada and beyond
Nevada’s 2028 U.S. Senate race could effectively be decided today — or at least, its campaign finance landscape could be.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a case that political operatives are watching closely and could affect elections for years to come — especially in Nevada.
The question at hand in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission is whether limits on coordinated party expenditures — the money political parties spend in conjunction with their candidates, which is separate from what they donate to the candidates — violate the First Amendment.
Republican committees and politicians have lined up to challenge the limits, while Democrats are defending them. If they are overturned, as is widely expected, Republicans believe they could benefit in Nevada in particular, where the party could take advantage of lower candidate rates for pricey TV advertising and more easily leverage party resources to take on Democratic incumbents in competitive House and Senate seats.
That’s because coordinated spending has historically made up a tiny fraction of total spending in Nevada. What has been far more significant are other types of outside spending and the spending of Democratic candidates themselves, which has far outpaced that of their Republican rivals.
If the court scraps the coordinated spending limits, the GOP party committees could swoop in to make up those differences. Nationally, the GOP could overcome Democrats’ small-donor edge by leveraging their higher party committee fundraising and support from megadonors.
But some campaign finance experts worry such a decision could open the door to quid pro quo arrangements that would see wealthy donors funnel huge sums to candidates through the parties, then ask the politicians to pay them back by supporting their preferred policies. Those experts also fear challenges to spending limits more broadly.
Read my story with all the details from the insiders, as well as data that illuminates how coordinated spending fits into Nevada’s larger money in politics picture.
— Mini Racker
Home is where the heart is
Rancher Cody Whipple, one of two Republicans vying to face Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) next fall, is registered to vote at an address in rural Hiko, which is in the district where he is running and where his family ranch is located. But public records show he lives in Summerlin in the 3rd District, represented by Rep Susie Lee’s (D-NV).
“I live — I sleep in Las Vegas nightly,” Whipple told The Nevada Independent. “As far as Hiko, Nevada, it’s been my life for 51 years.”
Congressional candidates in Nevada aren’t required to live in the districts they’re running in, so there was no legal reason for Whipple to register to vote in Hiko — although there may be a political one. Besides the fact that opponents often attack candidates who live outside the districts where they’re running, tiny agrarian Hiko (about a two-hour drive north of Las Vegas) fits with Whipple’s image as a cowboy-hat-wearing rancher better than suburban Summerlin, and may play better with GOP primary voters. He plays up that image on his website, which features a clip of men riding horses, as well as the Hiko address.
Public records show Whipple completed an online voter registration application listing his family’s longtime Summerlin address in January, then registered at the Hiko address in late February shortly before launching his congressional bid.
Whipple said as far as he remembers, he has always voted in Lincoln County.
He said he sent his children to school in Las Vegas and worked in the city during the week, then returned to the ranch on the weekends. The kids would ride horses; he would run the property.
Nevada law states that if a person has family residing in one place and does business at another, the former is their residence. Willfully falsifying voter application information is a crime, but Whipple said he has a residence in Hiko. He noted how he’s one of just a couple thousand voters in Lincoln County, compared to more than a million in Vegas.
“I pay a lot more taxes in Lincoln County than I do in Las Vegas, so I feel like where my money goes, I need to have a bigger impact,” he said.
— Mini Racker
What We’re Reading and Writing
The Nevada Independent: Poll: Lombardo, Ford in dead heat in potential faceoff for Nevada governor
After this poll found Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) neck-and-neck in the state’s marquee race of 2026, Indy CEO Jon Ralston got access to Lombardo’s internal polling showing the governor 8 points ahead.
The Nevada Independent: Film tax fiasco: How a three-year push to create Hollywood 2.0 in Las Vegas cratered
Laborers Local 872 rescinded endorsements of several lawmakers who voted against the film tax credits.
The Nevada Independent: ‘Don’t just blindside us’: Union pulls endorsement of Commissioner April Becker over gas tax vote
It’s un-endorsement season.
The Nevada Independent: Where do Nevada’s members of Congress like to eat? Here’s what campaign finance data shows
The data could provide fodder for political attacks — or for deciding where to take your visiting relatives to dinner for the holidays.
The Nevada Independent: The inside story of how a Nevada fir became the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree
Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) may have faced the toughest competition of his congressional career this year. The stakes? Ensuring the Capitol Christmas tree came from his district.
D.C. Download
- On Thursday, Democrats will get the vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that they were promised when several senators (including both Nevadans) agreed to end this fall’s shutdown, but it is expected to fail. If it does, and Republicans don’t figure out an alternative by January, when costs are likely to skyrocket, expect Democrats to hit the GOP hard on health care costs in 2026.
- Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) backed the reintroduction of the Dream Act, which would create a path to citizenship for immigrants brought to the United States as children. The bill has been reintroduced every Congress since 2001 and has some bipartisan support, but is unlikely to become law with Republicans in the majority and President Donald Trump in the White House. But for the first and only Latina senator, who stresses balancing border security with the needs of immigrant communities, celebrating the bill could be to her political benefit.
- Recent polling shows rising support for legal immigration and growing concerns about Trump’s approach, especially as he’s gone beyond deporting dangerous criminals, the targets he centered in his campaign messaging.
- Trump signed the provisions of Lee’s bill to prevent youth substance abuse, the TREAT Youth Act, into law as part of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025.
— Mini Racker
Mini Series
✉️ The establishment strikes first — A fundraiser and campaign-kick off for Democratic Assembly District 29 candidate Ashley Delobel on Dec. 10 features the backing of a who’s who of the legislative world, including Delobel’s father and former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, top lobbyists Billy Vassiliadis, Pete Ernaut and Alisa Nave-Worth and Democratic operatives such as Megan Jones. The seat is held by Assm. Joe Dalia (D-Henderson), who is leaving to run for state treasurer.
- The fundraiser comes as there’s a belief that the Assembly Democratic Caucus is not endorsing a candidate in the race, though no formal announcement has been made. It goes to show that if the caucus isn’t picking, someone else will (at least try).
🗳️National LGBTQ+ organization backs AD9 candidate — At least two Democratic candidates have announced they will run for Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager’s (D-Las Vegas) open seat representing Assembly District 9. One of them, Ryan Hampton, received an endorsement from the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a national organization backing pro-choice LGBTQ+ candidates. Hampton, an addiction recovery advocate, unsuccessfully ran for Assembly District 4 in 2024. He’s facing a primary challenge from union member and flight attendant Maria Teresa Hank.
🤝Jauregui endorsed by group backing Dems under 50 — Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) received an endorsement from the Democratic PAC The Next 50 in her bid for lieutenant governor, the group exclusively shared with The Indy. The group, which has endorsed Jauregui twice before, only endorses about 50 candidates per cycle, and has a 70 percent win rate for the ones it backs.
🛑Testing the Walters — Billionaire Joshua Walters (R), who entered the NV-03 race this fall as a “Trump Republican,” is no longer running, consultant Rory McShane confirmed to The Nevada Independent after Walters terminated his principal campaign committee on Nov. 21. Some business issues came up, McShane said, making now not the right time for a bid.
👀Lloyd’s the word — Minddie Lloyd was running for Clark County public administrator this August, as she told political consultant Tom Letizia on his podcast The Middle Ground. Now, she’s announced that she is instead running for Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones’ coveted District F seat, making her the sixth candidate to throw her hat in the ring. This will be her fourth run for public office in 10 years: Lloyd also ran unsuccessfully for county clerk in 2018 and Assembly in 2016.
— Tabitha Mueller, Isabella Aldrete, Mini Racker and Oona Milliken
Looking Ahead
- Thursday, Dec. 11 — The Democratic National Committee kicks off its winter meeting
- Monday, Jan. 5 — Filing begins for judicial candidates and closes 11 days later
- Thursday, Jan. 15 — Annual state campaign finance reports are due
Posts that caught our eye:
Welcome to the podcast election — Nevada gubernatorial edition.
We’ll see you next month.
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