LAS VEGAS — The Marco Rubio boomlet has landed out west.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin are the two strongest contenders at this early stage for Nevada’s delegates to the Republican presidential nominating convention in Cleveland, according to neutral state GOP insiders. Nevada is set to host the party’s fourth primary contest of 2016 and first west of the Mississippi River, and victory here could push the winner one step closer to the nomination.
But Rubio could be gaining steam here, commensurate with his rise in national polls since declaring for president nearly two weeks ago. The Florida senator, 43, rocketed to first place in the latest Quinnipiac University poll of Republicans nationally, with 15 percent; he jumped to third place in a similar CNN survey that was also released this week, tracking at 11 percent.
“I like Marco Rubio a lot. I like that he’s young and vibrant, he’s a good speaker,” retired flight attendant Michele Rizza, 57, said in an interview. “We need some diversity.”
“I’m probably leaning more towards Rubio,” added businesses owner Donna Hash, 61, who agreed with Rizza’s assessment that his Cuban heritage could help the Republicans expand the electoral map and win states like Nevada, which went twice for President Obama and has a sizable Hispanic voting bloc. Republicans swept the state in the 2014 midterms, led by Hispanic Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval’s landslide re-election.
Hash and Rizza were two of the more than a half dozen female GOP activists who spoke with the Washington Examiner Thursday during a luncheon gathering of the Spring Mountain Republican Women. To be sure, they offered only anecdotal — not statistical — evidence of Rubio’s traction in the Silver State, where he lived briefly as a child before his family moved back to Miami.
About three dozen Republican women who live in the Las Vegas city limits joined the luncheon, and they expressed interest in a range of candidates, from Paul, who has built in support left over from his father Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign; to Walker; to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, even billionaire reality television star Donald Trump, received mentions.
That this Republican Establishment-oriented crowd wasn’t a hotbed of support for the libertarian leaning Paul is hardly surprising. The Kentucky senator tends to draw from younger Republicans and the community of liberty activists whose connection to the GOP is tenuous. Nevada Republicans can be extraordinarily factionalized, philosophically, geographically and otherwise.
But these women offered a window into the minds of activists, and as such, historically reliable primary voters who live in Nevada’s biggest population pool. Their top priorities were predictable. They are concerned about the economy, don’t like Obamacare and desperately want to nominate a candidate who can beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
And, this being Nevada, with its western libertarian bent, there were healthy calls for a smaller, less intrusive federal government.
But quizzed blindly about which issue rises to the top of their list as they ponder whom to support for the Republican nomination, and many cited national security and a stronger military. “I don’t want Iran to go nuclear. I want ISIS to be stopped,” said Pam Allen, a 69-year-old homemaker.
Another assertion by the women here: Many professed strong support for securing the border and addressing problems caused by illegal immigration. Yet few said they would oppose legislation to legalize illegal immigrants — or candidates supportive of such policies. “My ear is open to what a candidate has to say about immigration,” said Connie Densmore, a 61-year-old financial planner.
That might bode well for Rubio in the Nevada primary. The military hawk has advanced in the field of 2016 contenders in part because of his foreign policy expertise. Among his challenges in wooing primary voters nationally is his past support for comprehensive immigration reform legalization that included a path to legalization and possible citizenship for illegal immigrants.
