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It is week 1 of early voting in Nevada's primary election as hundreds of thousands of voters get ready to whittle down the massive list of candidates for the November general election. We break down turnout so far and explain how most Nevadans are still choosing to vote by mail. Plus, host Ben Margiott has an extended conversation with UNR political science Jeremy Gelman about the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, other races he's watching closely and Nevada's changing electorate. How have Nevada’s demographics shifted in recent years? Does that mirror national trends? And what does that mean for November?
Know Your Candidates 2024 page
FiveThirtyEight Swing-O-Matic interactive
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It's a crowded field of Republican candidates in the race for U.S. Senate in Nevada - 12 candidates filed for the chance to take on incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen in November. If you listened to episode 15, you heard from 3 of the top 4 frontrunners - the one exception being Sam Brown, who canceled his interview and never rescheduled. On this bonus episode, host Ben Margiott interviews the remaining candidates that were willing to interview with us: Bill Conrad, E.T. Hamilton, Garn Mabey, Ronda Kennedy, Stephanie Phillips and Vincent Rego.
Skip to the following times to hear from a specific candidate:
Bill Conrad 1:32
E.T. Hamilton 8:50
Garn Mabey 17:40
Ronda Kennedy 24:25
Stephanie Phillips 32:45
Vincent Rego 44:30
Note: Barry Lindemann did not show up for his interview time and Gary Marinch never replied to multiple emails seeking an interview.
Know Your Candidates 2024 page
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Primary Election Day is less than 3 weeks away in Nevada. Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar joins the show to talk when and how to vote, how to register to vote or change your party affiliation and everything else you need to know before casting your ballot. Plus, a deep-dive on how the Secretary of State's office receives and investigates complaints of voter fraud. Spoiler alert: the number of complaints represents a tiny fraction of the over 1 million votes cast in 2022 - and many are resolved with no criminal action.
Read the full report here: 2024 Election Investigations Report Q1
Know Your Candidates 2024 page
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It's a crowded field of Republican candidates in the race for U.S. Senate in Nevada - 12 candidates filed for the chance to take on incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen in November.
This week, we start our Know Your Candidates 2024 series by introducing you to the 3 GOP candidates that, according to a recent internal poll, have the best shot at upsetting Sam Brown, the wounded warrior widely considered to be the frontrunner.
(Brown initially signed up for an interview slot but canceled, citing a scheduling conflict. His team did not respond when we offered three other time slots on a different day.)
Host Ben Margiott interviews Jim Marchant, Tony Grady and Jeff Gunter about Yucca Mountain, abortion, the Trump hush money trial and more. In fairness to all candidates, we asked a series of similar questions. Stay tuned for extended interviews with several other candidates in the Republican primary in the coming weeks.
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It's mail time at Ballot Battleground: Nevada. We put out a call for listener questions recently and received plenty. News 4-Fox 11 morning show anchor and political expert Chris Murphy joins this week to go through the mailbag with host Ben Margiott. They answered questions about a nonpartisan running in Congressional District 2, Yucca Mountain, abortion on the ballot, whether campaign signs work and much more.
Submit your questions for future mailbag episodes by emailing [email protected] or by tagging Ben on social media.
LA Times story on Yucca Mountain: Nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain could roil Nevada U.S. Senate race
Search Engine podcast on campaign signs: Do political yard signs actually do anything?
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After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there's been a state-by-state patchwork of differing abortion laws across the country. In Nevada, abortion is protected up to 24 weeks in state law after a 1990 referendum. But advocates want to make that protection even stronger by adding abortion rights to the Nevada Constitution. It appears their ballot question to enshrine that right is headed for the November ballot. Denise Lopez, director of Nevada campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All, joins to explain the abortion landscape in the Silver State, why she feels a Constitutional amendment is necessary and answer a number of criticisms about the initiative petition.
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Primary season is underway - if you haven't noticed all the campaign signs and ads in every commercial break. This week, host Ben Margiott previews the GOP primary for Nevada's 2nd Congressional district, which covers most of northern Nevada. With no Democrat running in this deep red district, the winner of the seat will likely be determined in the June primary. Rep. Mark Amodei, the incumbent since 2011, and Dr. Fred Simon sit down for extended interviews about why they're running, the national debt, foreign aid and whether they would continue to support former Pres. Trump if he's convicted before the election. Plus, an update on the controversial USPS plan to reroute northern Nevada mail through Sacramento after a Congressional oversight hearing with postmaster general Louis DeJoy this week and a viral moment from Sen. Jacky Rosen.
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Should public money be used to help build the Oakland A's baseball team a new stadium in Las Vegas? The state's largest teachers union wants to ask voters that question in November. But like so many other proposed initiatives, it's been challenged and appealed up to the Nevada Supreme Court. This week, justices heard oral arguments about the proposed referendum. Host Ben Margiott takes listeners inside the courtroom and interviews Alexander Marks, director of strategy for the Nevada State Education Association, about their 'Schools Over Stadiums' push, the effort to get the referendum on the November ballot and their unlikely alliance with Oakland A's fans.
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After Pres. Biden's visit to Reno last month, two top Biden cabinet members are in northern Nevada this week. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su stopped by the studio for a sit-down interview with host Ben Margiott about ongoing FAFSA issues, unemployment, the Baltimore bridge collapse and more. Plus, Nevada Current deputy editor April Corbin Girnus joins to preview some of the critical statehouse elections that will determine if Democrats are able to gain veto-proof supermajorities in Carson City or if Republicans can wrest back some power.
For more on Corbin Girnus' analysis of the statehouse elections, read her two recent pieces in the Nevada Current:
Can Lombardo break the Democrats’ Assembly supermajority? Here’s a look at the terrain.
Only 1 vote shy of a Nevada Senate supermajority, Democrats look to flip a seat (or more)
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Question 3, which will be on the November ballot in Nevada, would make drastic changes to our electoral system, implementing two proposed reforms — open primaries and ranked-choice voting. If it were to pass again (after already passing in 2022), it would put those changes in the Nevada Constitution. Supporters say it would upend the two-party system as we know it but opponents worry it could lead to even more confusion. Before we explore the arguments for and against, we brought in the Guinn Center, Nevada's nonpartisan policy research center. The think tank just released a report explaining Question 3 and asking where Nevadans stand on the issues. Research director Mike Stewart and assistant director Kristine Caliger join the show to explain what Question 3 would do and what their research revealed.
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The race for the White House heats up in the battleground states, with President Joe Biden making his first visit to Nevada this election cycle. Host Ben Margiott was in the presidential motorcade and takes listeners behind the scenes as Biden stopped by a Democratic campaign office to rally volunteers. Plus, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar joins to explain a coding error that caused the website to incorrectly show people as having voted by mail in the presidential preference primary. Aguilar also details why he feels the USPS proposal to send Reno-area mail through a Sacramento distribution facility is problematic for mail ballots.
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Will abortion be on the Nevada ballot in November? One initiative seeking to enshrine reproductive freedoms is currently in the hands of the Nevada Supreme Court and advocates are already gathering signatures for another measure dealing with abortion alone. On this episode of Ballot Battleground: Nevada, host Ben Margiott takes us inside last week's oral arguments at the state supreme court, explains the abortion landscape in Nevada and interviews Jason Guinasso, the attorney representing the Coalition for Parents and Children, which is challenging one of the proposed measures. (Note: Lindsey Harmon, the president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, was not available to do an interview in time for this episode, but her perspective is included through soundbites from an interview after last week's court hearing.)
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We Matter - that’s the slogan made famous by this week’s guest - Jon Ralston, the CEO and editor of The Nevada Independent. As we heard on last week's episode of Ballot Battleground: Nevada, the Silver State will of course matter in the general election, but we mattered quite a bit less during this Presidential nominating cycle. We brought Jon in to talk about 2024, the early Biden/Trump polls, the U.S. Senate race heating up and the first year of Governor Joe Lombardo’s administration.
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In the 2024 Presidential election, Nevada isn't just a battleground, it's a toss-up. A coin flip. Don't take our word for it - that's the official race rating from the Cook Political Report, one of the most well-respected election forecasters in the United States. Senate and governor editor Jessica Taylor comes on the podcast to talk about why CPR changed Nevada from 'lean Democrat' to 'toss-up,' and our U.S. Senate race that could once again decide control of the chamber.
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Who should draw Nevada's political maps? Today, it's whichever party is in control in Carson City. In the last cycle, Democrats had a trifecta and passed their maps without any Republican support - those maps were given an "F" from the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project for giving Democrats a clear political advantage. But now one group is pushing to take the redistricting process out of the hands of politicians and put it into the hands of an independent board. Last week, a judge shot down the proposed ballot questions, but that decision is being appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court. In this episode of Ballot Battleground: Nevada, we talk to the woman running the Fair Maps Nevada PAC behind the ballot questions and the man behind the legal challenge about the ongoing push to change this process and the pushback.
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The busiest week in Nevada elections in a long time is in the rearview mirror. In the end, Donald Trump and Joe Biden won all of Nevada's delegates from the caucus and primary, respectively. Host Ben Margiott interviews reporter Audrey Mayer about her experience covering the caucus at a Reno-area elementary school. Plus, an extended interview with interim Washoe County registrar of voters Cari-Ann Burgess about why she came back to elections after experiencing burnout in a previous role, lessons learned running an ice cream shop in between jobs and how the primary went for a largely new elections staff in Washoe County.
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Nevada's first presidential preference primary in decades went smoothly, with low voter turnout making for no lines at most polling places. As expected, President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary handily. But in a surprising turn of events, former ambassador Nikki Haley lost to 'None of these candidates' in the Republican contest. We speak with reporters Kim Burrows and Audrey Mayer about their experience covering the election on the ground, plus a conversation with Jon Ralston, the CEO of the Nevada Independent, about how that 'none of these candidates' option came to be and how voters have used it in the past.
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Nevada's Presidential nominating process is more confusing than ever in 2024 with two different elections being held in a span of just three days. Despite the state shifting to a Presidential preference primary, the Nevada GOP has still opted to hold a caucus on February 8th. Truckee Meadows political science professor Fred Lokken comes on the show to explain in detail how and why we got here and how you can participate. We also talked about Nevada's diminished national attention this cycle because of the split process.
Presidential preference primary voter guide: https://mynews4.com/news/local/confused-by-nevadas-first-presidential-primary-in-decades-heres-your-voter-guide#
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Ballot Battleground: Nevada is a show where we take deep dives into the issues, people, policies and debates shaping politics in our critical swing state. Many voters find themselves confused or overwhelmed when they walk into the voting booth. Our goal is to explain the issues that matter most to everyday Nevadans so they're fully informed before casting their ballot.
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