It wasn’t that long ago that Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada called himself “99 percent against” Donald Trump, but now in the midst of a dead-heat race against Rep. Jacky Rosen, Heller is praising the anti-immigrant demagogue as “a great leader”—and it’s praise that could very well cost him his re-election.
Nearly one in five Nevada residents is an immigrant, nearly half are naturalized U.S. citizens, and “almost one in six residents is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent,” according to the American Immigration Council. Democrats have taken the state in the last three presidential elections; the most recent general election also resulted in the election of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate.
Of course, as Nevada mainstay Jon Ralston reports, those were presidential election years, and midterms could be different. “Democrats have been fearsome in recent presidential years here,” he reports, “but in midterms they struggle to get their voters out.” However, backlash against Trump has been fueling up the Democratic base as the midterms approach, and that anger could very well oust Heller as he embraces Trump.
Ireri Bravo, a Mexican immigrant, told PBS that the family-separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, created by Trump’s barbaric “zero tolerance” policy, left her reeling. “I think of my daughter, and I think of how lucky I am that I know that I get to stay with her,” she said. “And it just breaks my heart that I can't do more to help all those people who are suffering. Voting is something I can do. And getting people to vote, it's something I can do.”
Nevada is also home to about 13,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, who had the rug pulled out from under their feet when Trump announced the program’s rescission. While the courts have partially resurrected it, only permanent legislation can settle their fears. The DREAM Act could do this, but the GOP-led Congress refused to take it up. A discharge petition, which would have forced a vote, was just a hair away from succeeding, before GOP leadership derailed it. Rosen was among the petition signatories. Heller was not.
“Being close to Trump is going to turn out the Republican base for [Heller],” Ralston said. “If Trump is a real albatross on the ballot for Republicans in general and for Dean Heller in particular, it could cost him the race.” Activist Viridiana Vidal noted the destructive impact Trump’s policies are having. “We’re living under an administration that has inflicted fear in our communities … I’ve been living in Las Vegas for 15 years. And I know this is something that is moving my people. I know this is something that is moving my community.”