Sen. Marco Rubio has signed Republican consultant Mike Slanker to lead his presidential campaign in Nevada, host of the fourth 2016 nominating contest and first out west.
Slanker, whose firm, November Inc., is based in Las Vegas, will serve as a senior adviser to the Florida Republican and in that role assist in national campaign strategy. But Slanker could be particularly valuable to Rubio in Nevada, where he is the top political strategist for Gov. Brian Sandoval and Sen. Dean Heller. Slanker helped guide Sandoval to two landslide victories in 2010 and 2014, while assisting Heller in his narrow, hard-fought win in 2012.
“Mike Slanker will join Marco’s campaign as a senior political adviser,” Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant confirmed. “Mike’s first priority will be running our campaign in Nevada, under the leadership of our Nevada chair, Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison. We intend to compete in all the early states because Marco is a new generation conservative who can unite the party and inspire the country.”
In 2012, Slanker advised Rick Perry, although by the time the Republican presidential primary campaign reached Nevada the now-former Texas governor was out of the running. Sandoval endorsed Perry in that race but is neutral in the 2016 primary.
Slanker is a veteran strategist whose resume includes a stint as political director at the NRSC, formerly the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in the 2008 cycle; which was a brutal election for the GOP. The Ohio native is a general consultant, with broad experience running campaigns, including field operations, advertising and messaging.
In Nevada, the hire sets up an interesting, if unintended, clash of sorts with Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who has yet to formally announce for president. Bush, 62, recently tapped Republican consultant Ryan Erwin to be his point man in the Silver State. Erwin and Slanker are former business partners. Slanker’s client roster includes Hutchison, announced earlier this month as chairman of Rubio’s Nevada campaign.
Nevada is slated to hold a presidential nominating caucus in 2016, as it did in 2012.
However, legislation is pending in Carson City that, if approved by state lawmakers, would junk the caucus. As in Iowa, Nevada’s caucus favors the most committed and conservative party activists. Re-instituting a standard primary election that would attract more rank-and-file voters, possibly energizing more Republicans ahead of the general election. Nevada’s demographic diversity and heavy Hispanic population could provide Republicans with an early viability test against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in this swing state.
Immigration is a key issue there and will be a factor in the Republican primary. But it is not necessarily the dominating issue, Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald told the Washington Examiner in a recent interview. President Obama’s healthcare law, federal education guidelines known as Common Core, national security and taxes are among the issues voters are concerned about and want the candidates to address.
“This is a battleground state,” McDonald said.
