Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle is back, but Republicans aren’t welcoming her with open arms. It’s been nearly five months since Angle, a former Nevada state senator, was soundly defeated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., crushing the hopes of Republicans who made the five-term Democrat their top target in last November’s elections.
Angle’s seven-point loss to Reid, blamed in part on a badly managed campaign riddled with the candidate’s own gaffes, did not stop her from jumping into the race to fill Nevada’s 2nd District seat, up for grabs in 2012 now that current Rep. Dean Heller has decided to run for the Senate.
“The effort to bring the people’s voice back into government didn’t end in 2010,” Angle said in a video announcing her campaign from her kitchen table.
The state’s Republican establishment, however, is not so eager for an Angle comeback and is far more likely to back the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, Brian Krolicki, who is also expected to run in next year’s GOP primary.
“A lot of people in the national GOP don’t want her to win,” said University of Nevada political science professor Ted Jelen. “I think she would win a general election if she were nominated, but the GOP would have to spend resources on Angle that they could spent elsewhere if another candidate without her baggage were on the ticket.”
Many believe Angle lost a Senate seat that was virtually impossible to lose, given Reid’s low approval rating and sky-high unemployment in the Silver State. Reid was able to survive in part by defining Angle as an extremist and he frequently used her own words against her in hard-hitting campaign ads.
Angle, for instance, proposed phasing out Social Security and Medicare and suggested people use “Second Amendment remedies” to stop government infringement. She also ran a campaign ad on immigration that offended Hispanics.
Angle is trying to repair her image, jumping into the House race early to give her time to redefine herself. She plans to publish her autobiography “Right Angle” and earlier this week took questions from the media after refusing nearly all media interviews during her Senate campaign.
During the news conference, Angle stood by a sign with a number — 19,667 — which she said represents the 2010 votes she earned above Reid in the vast 2nd District, which encompasses most of the state outside of Las Vegas.
“If she wins the primary, she’s going to be supported by the Republican Party,” said James Smack, GOP chairman in Churchill County, near Reno.
In a primary matchup against only Krolicki, political analysts say Angle would have a tough time winning. But Angle could win if a third or fourth candidate joined the GOP nominating race and split the establishment support for Krolicki, allowing Angle to win a majority.
“There needs to be two or three other candidates for her to win the primary,” said Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston.
Nevada GOP officials told The Washington Examiner on Thursday that in addition to Krolicki, state GOP Chairman Mark Amodei may also enter the race.
