As if we needed more motivation to win back the senate, here’s endangered Republican Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, caught on tape:
“Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer,” Heller predicted in Las Vegas last week, according to audio of an event he spoke at that was obtained by POLITICO. “Which I’m hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.”
The 45-minute recording of the media-shy Heller shows a senator defending President Donald Trump repeatedly, breaking only delicately with the president on issues like trade and gun control. It’s in line with the tightrope Heller has to walk to have any hope of winning reelection against a Trump-inspired Republican primary opponent and a highly touted Democratic general election challenger — in a state that Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
This is even scarier:
Heller went on to float Sen. Mike Lee for the job, calling the Utah Republican the type of conservative who could energize Nevada's electorate in the June 12 primary. Lee's office declined to comment.
“Mike Lee from Utah is probably on that short list of the next Supreme Court justice in our courts,” Heller said during the Q-and-A session with the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in Las Vegas Friday.
Heller is the most endangered Republican incumbent running for re-election this fall — he’s facing off against Rep. Jacky Rosen — so he may not make it to 2019. But the bigger mission remains: take back the Senate, despite it being an uphill climb. Because another Trump nominee on the Supreme Court bench would be a national nightmare.