The race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination is heading to Nevada, where a top contender, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is planning to speak at an annual event hosted by former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt.
The Basque Fry, organized by Morning in Nevada PAC, a state-level political action committee organized to support Laxalt’s political activities, is scheduled for mid-August. Also scheduled to speak is Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, another Republican mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. Republicans mulling a White House bid have been visiting Iowa and New Hampshire in droves. The next stop is Nevada, the state that has lately voted fourth on the GOP’s presidential nominating calendar.
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Laxalt has been hosting the Basque Fry in Nevada for the last six years. But the gathering is a play on the Lamb Fry events that his late grandfather, Paul Laxalt, the former Nevada governor and senator, used to host in Washington and back home in the Silver State. This year’s roster of speakers includes Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and organizer of the Conservative Political Action Conference, and former Ambassador Richard Grenell.
DeSantis, who is running for reelection in Florida in 2022, has lately topped polls asking Republican voters whom they would support for president in 2024. In some of those surveys, DeSantis led if former President Donald Trump was not an available choice. In others, the Florida governor led regardless. Because DeSantis is focused on reelection, he has been traveling to early primary states at a slower clip than potential 2024 competitors.
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The Basque Fry is being held on a ranch in northern Nevada. Laxalt, 42, is considering running for Senate in 2022 against Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
