Nevada Republicans have stopped speaking about Trump — at least in marketing campaign advertisements

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In at present’s version: Are Nevada Republicans dodging Trump? Plus: The president’s under-the-radar Nevada spending, his loudly announced ballot watchers and information about those mysterious last-minute texts.

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The elephant (not) in the room

Are Republicans in Nevada scared to speak about President Donald Trump? Based on advert spending information pulled from AdAffect, it sure seems like it.

Of Democrats’ complete spending on broadcast and streaming advertisements in Nevada since Aug. 1, roughly $1 of every $2 went toward spots mentioning Trump. In comparability, roughly $1 of every $1,000 spent by Republicans on broadcast and streaming advertisements since Aug. 1 went toward spots mentioning him. That’s … a large distinction!

The Indy’s evaluation was impressed by — and borrowed methodology from — a current story by Bayliss Wagner of The New York Times, documenting how Republicans in congressional races nationwide have shied away from mentioning Trump while Democrats have gone all-in.

The distinction in Trump references was particularly stark in the governor’s race, where Democrats are joyful to invoke a president increasingly unpopular among Nevadans. The first pro-Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) advert that talked about Trump ran July 28. Since then, Democrats have spent more than $7 million on governor race advertisements mentioning Trump (of more than $13 million on advertisements in complete over that period). Republicans, in comparability, have spent $0 on governor race advertisements mentioning Trump.

Since Aug. 1, Democrats have spent more than $1.1 million on governor race advertisements referencing the “Lombardo-Trump economy,” one of the Ford marketing campaign’s favourite phrases. Unsurprisingly, there are no pro-Ford advertisements that point out Trump but not Gov. Joe Lombardo (R), but 9 that point out Lombardo and not Trump — including one rebutting Lombardo’s attack advertisements on Ford and one criticizing Lombardo’s stance on information facilities.

In its evaluation, the Times famous that Republicans talked about Trump less and less in advertisements as 2026 progressed, doubtless because their perceived loyalty to the president was more salient in main elections hosted earlier in the yr.

The Indy discovered a comparable pattern in Nevada. Take, for instance, congressional races: In the two months main up to Nevada’s June 9 primaries (April 9 to June 9), almost 85 % of advert money spent by Republicans in House races went towards advertisements mentioning Trump. In the two months following the election (June 10 to Aug. 10), just 0.5 % of the advert money they spent did.

— Kate Reynolds

What we’re studying and writing

Lynn Chapman speaks.

Is the information middle industry paying to affect elections?

Nevada won’t SAVE tonight.

Find someone who cares about you as much as Mother Jones cares about David Flippo.

Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) attends a rally in entrance of Clark County Government Center after submitting for re-election on March 10, 2026. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)

Indy Ad Watch: Independent-minded?

Hundreds of hundreds of {dollars} of spending in Nevada’s congressional races this fall have flown under the radar, per Federal Election Commission information of unbiased expenditures.

That contains almost $1 million on billboards for Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) from liberal tremendous PAC American Bridge twenty first Century, almost three-quarters of a million {dollars} apiece for phone-banking, canvassing and texts on behalf of the three Republican nominees in Southern Nevada from American Majority Action PAC, a conservative tremendous PAC bankrolled by billionaire Richard Uihlein, $300,000 on promoting opposing small-business proprietor David Flippo (R) by the League of Conservation Voters, and more than $30,000 each on digital advertisements opposing Lee and former Assm. Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D-Reno) by Trump’s MAGA Inc.

Outside teams also spent in support of Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), who is thought of safer than the other incumbents. Think Big, a pro-AI tremendous PAC funded by Andreessen Horowitz, spent $321,000 on his behalf, while Rolling Sea Action Fund, which goals to empower the Black neighborhood, spent $150,000. The Congressional Black Caucus PAC is paying $3,000 for radio advertisements supporting him as properly.

Here’s the other last minute advert information that caught our eye:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) new advert with Benitez-Thompson, shared first with The Indy, slams Flippo over current controversies.

A current DCCC press release lists Nevada’s 1st and 2nd, but not third, congressional districts among those where the committee is working TV advertisements in the remaining week of the election — a signifier of the shifting battleground.

The Nevada GOP, meanwhile, is chipping in with $75,000 for a coordinated spend with Flippo, per AdAffect. Their new advert attacks Benitez-Thompson as too far left. It refers to a information outlet called The Post Sentinel calling her “the most far-left wing candidate in America,” however, The Indy could not discover any document of such an outlet or quote.

— Mini Racker

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar speaks about Nevada voter registration during a daylong seminar sponsored by Third Way at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on May 21, 2026. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)

Mini Series: 👁️👁️Somebody’s watching me

👁️ DOJ plans ballot day observing — The Department of Justice plans to station observers at 4 Clark County polling websites on Election Day, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) advised The Indy.

Nevada and Clark County election officers had a assembly Tuesday with the Justice Department, which Aguilar called “cordial and respectful.” Aguilar added that the observers are welcome as long as they are respectful, and that the state “will not tolerate any form of disruption, chaos, threats or intimidation.”

In a assertion, a Justice Department spokesperson said it will have around 1,000 screens nationwide on Election Day, and it will release the particular areas that day. The spokesperson added that the screens “will merely observe and report any potential violations of federal law to the Department, which will be reviewed after Election Day.”

🗳️A Red Senate District in play? — Is Northern Nevada’s Senate District 16, represented by state Sen. Lisa Krasner (R-Reno), in hazard of flipping? The district has a Republican voter registration benefit of more than 13.5 proportion factors and has never been held by a Democrat. Still, voter registration and early vote information show promising indicators for Democrats. Democratic challenger Chrystal Roll has been door-knocking in the Carson City and South Reno district alongside her fellow members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 4041 all through the election cycle.

The district has a high focus of state employees, and union member Blaine Harper said she and others have been highlighting Roll’s healthcare and social providers expertise, particularly her work as a social employee.

“We have a lot of districts in Nevada, and especially Northern Nevada, where a lot of the time Democrats don’t even run,” Harper said. “What Chrystal’s doing is something that I think we see a lot more of, honestly, where people can see more options and what she brings to the table.”

The effort is half of a new, heavy investment in a ground-game program the union is working in coordination with the American Federation of Labor and its own member-to-member program. Union representatives did not make clear the measurement of that financial investment.

The Nevada Democratic state celebration has despatched mailers to registered Republicans in the district touting Roll’s dedication to reducing prices, increasing housing access and ending company tax giveaways.

📱Birthplace debate — A current Reddit post options a textual content from what the consumer claims is Clark County Commission District F candidate Becky Harris’ marketing campaign alleging that her Democratic opponent, Minja Yan (D), lied about being born and raised in Las Vegas in an interview this month.

In a cellphone call, Dane B., the Reddit consumer and a District F resident who did not need to publicize his full last identify for privateness causes, said that 4 of his pals, all registered as nonpartisans, acquired the messages, which linked to Harris’ “Personal Cell” and her marketing campaign web site ElectBeckyHarris.com. He said he was dissatisfied in the message and thought that Harris would be placing ahead her coverage platform instead of attacking opponents. The Nevada Independent was not in a position to independently confirm the messages, but reviewed several screenshots.

The Channel 8 interview begins with the reporter stating that Yan was “born and raised here in town,” and Yan does not explicitly appropriate her, though she does not say she was born in Las Vegas. Instead, she says she “grew up in southwest Las Vegas.” Yan has said she was born in Guangzhou, China, and moved to the U.S. when she was around 11-years-old.

In a textual content message to The Nevada Independent, Harris’ marketing campaign supervisor, Tom Letizia, acknowledged that the message was not related with the marketing campaign. “I know nothing about this message. I first learned about it when you sent it to me. As I think you know by now, this is not the kind of campaign Becky Harris has been running, nor is it the kind of campaign we intend to run in these remaining few days,” he wrote. Harris, working as an unbiased, was beforehand a Republican state senator.

💬 Whose callin’ my cellphone?— The plot thickens around texts despatched to voters in state Senate District 8 attacking Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop (D-Las Vegas). The same cellphone quantity that despatched a faux flyer claiming Dondero Loop attended an occasion with the Democratic Socialists of America despatched another textual content this week, directing voters to an attack advert slamming her training document. The textual content included the message: “As a democrat [sic] this bothers me. We need to fix our party.”

The advert linked in the texts was created by the Nevada Republican Club Action, a nonprofit linked to the Nevada Republican Club. The group did not immediately reply to a request for remark about the texts.

Campaign finance information also raise new questions about if Dondero Loop’s opponent, Republican businessman George Harris (R), is linked to the texts — despite him beforehand telling The Indy his marketing campaign had “no involvement.”

The cellphone quantity despatched voters a textual content on Aug. 10 with a hyperlink to a push ballot labeled as an “InTouch Mobile Poll.” George Harris’ most current fundraising report exhibits a $1,520.02 cost to the Phoenix department of InContact, a digital providers company, on Aug. 17 — a week after the textual content with the ballot was despatched.

George Harris’ marketing campaign did not immediately return a request for clarification. The Phoenix and worldwide headquarters of InContact did not return The Indy’s request for remark.

— Eric Neugeboren, Tabitha Mueller, Oona Milliken and Kate Reynolds

Looking Ahead

Friday, Oct. 30 — Early voting ends

Tuesday, Nov. 3 — Election Day

A post that caught our eye:

We did it, Joe!

We’ll see you next week.

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