Republicans appear to have gotten a last-minute entry into the Nevada Senate race when Sharron Angle unexpectedly filed for the seat being vacated by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
A major reason Reid is leaving that seat willingly is that Angle blew what was widely considered a winnable Senate race against him as the Republican nominee in 2010. Even with her missteps, the polls showed the contest would be close. But Reid actually won handily and Republicans failed to retake the Senate in what was otherwise a good year for the GOP.
The Democratic Party in Nevada seemed overjoyed by the news.
“Nevada Republicans now have a choice between an anti-immigrant TEA Party Republican known for saying outlandish things like calling Social Security a ‘pyramid scheme’ and… Sharron Angle,” crowed Nevada Democratic spokeswoman Sarah Zukowski in a statement.
The expected GOP nominee for Senate in Nevada was Rep. Joe Heck, but Angle beat the expected nominee Sue Lowden in a Republican primary six years ago.
It’s unclear how serious this is, since there was no accompanying announcement. But Angle is the second Tea Party disappointment to make headlines this week. Christine O’Donnell, who was also defeated in what was seen as a winnable Senate race in Delaware in 2010, was in the news criticizing Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
