A super PAC aligned with President Trump announced Wednesday that it will spend $1.5 million in advertising to support Republican Danny Tarkanian’s race in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District.
“As President Trump heads to Las Vegas tomorrow for what is sure to be an exciting rally in support of GOP candidates in Nevada, America First Action is pleased to be able to announce its support for Danny Tarkanian in NV-03, one of the top pickup opportunities for Republicans in the country,” Erin Montgomery, communications director for America First Action, said in a statement Wednesday.
The announcement comes as Trump is set to headline a major fundraiser for Nevada Republicans Friday Sept. 21. Tickets run as high as $50,000 per couple, which will get the buyer two seats at a roundtable event and a VIP photograph with the president. The event is intended to benefit the campaigns of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., Tarkanian, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Tarkanian started out the 2018 election cycle angling to be a Republican challenger against Heller, who he repeatedly criticized for not being a strong enough ally for Trump in the Senate. The president was able to get Tarkanian to back off the challenge with a tweet in which he endorsed Tarkanian for Congress and Heller for Senate.
It would be great for the Republican Party of Nevada, and it’s unity if good guy Danny Tarkanian would run for Congress and Dean Heller, who is doing a really good job, could run for Senate unopposed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2018
Not long after the tweet, Tarkanian’s campaign announced he was running for Congress in the 3rd District.
“I am confident I would have won the US Senate race and done a great job representing the people of Nevada in the Senate, but the President is adamant that a unified Republican ticket in Nevada is the best direction for the America First movement,” Tarkanian told reporters. “With President Trump’s full support and endorsement, I am filing to run again in CD3 with the firm belief that we will finish what we started in 2016 and win in 2018.”
America First Action’s announcement Wednesday is the latest in a string of plays to help bolster Republican incumbents and candidates in key battle ground elections that the group feels could help Republicans maintain control of Congress.
The Trump-aligned super PAC announced in late August that it plans to invest $10 million in 10 House races in Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. The PAC’s affiliated nonprofit group, America First Policies, will spend $2.5 million supporting Republican candidates running for Senate in Missouri and North Dakota.
America First plans to use a variety of tactics to reach voters, including direct mail and radio, television, and digital advertisement campaigns.
Republicans are facing a particularly tough challenge to keep the House, where some 50 GOP lawmakers are either resigning, retiring, or seeking other office in 2018.
Democrats are expected to narrowly claim the majority in the House in November, but the Senate is widely considered to stay under Republican control. RealClearPolitics’ polling average of a generic congressional ballot has Democrats at a 8.5 percentage point advantage over Republicans.
The president is aggressively campaigning for Republicans across the nation and his fall schedule includes rallies for Republican candidates across the nation and trips to at least seven different states over the next six weeks. White House officials briefed reporters on the president’s campaign travel plans in August and his schedule has already changed. The president added a major rally for incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, weeks later to help the senator in his heated race against Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
In total, Trump will spend at least 40 days on the road between Aug. 1 and Election Day. The president is also weighing the possibility of headlining fundraisers in Washington, D.C.
