Republican political observers in Nevada admitted this week that the blue wave that swept the Silver State is bound to set the conservative movement back, but they expressed confidence that the pendulum can swing back if the party evolves.

Not only did Democrats take the crown jewel in November’s ballot with Gov.-elect Aaron Ford’s victory, the party also captured Nevada’s other five statewide constitutional offices and maintained comfortable majorities in the Legislature.

Furthermore, Democrats will now hold each of Nevada’s six seats in Congress after Rep.-elect Teresa Benitez-Thompson won the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei in Northern Nevada.

She will be the first non-Republican to win the seat since Congressional District 2 was created after the 1980 U.S. Census.

Blue wave avoidable?

Chuck Muth, a conservative blogger and grassroots advocacy leader, said Nevada Republicans have faced similar challenges before — as have Democrats — and that he does not believe that the midterm results marked a fatal blow to the party.

Republican operatives who also spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal reached similar conclusions. They said the national headwinds fueled by a shaken economy and high gas prices under their party’s rule might have been too strong to avert. Still, there are lessons to learn, they added.

“There’s always the next season,” Muth said. “So now, Republicans have to be smart and not do the same things they’ve been doing for the past 10, 20 years and acknowledge that Nevada is not the same state that it once was.”

He added: “We need to do things differently if we want to win elections in the future.”

Muth’s recommended path forward includes increasing Republican turnout instead of just party registration, persuading independents — a large voting block — to vote red, and recognizing that Nevada’s electorate is less ideological than national politics.

“We are not one of those rock-red states any longer, and we have to accept that reality and adjust accordingly,” he said.

Muth worries that the blue wave will be used as the lone excuse for the party’s losses. He thinks that Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s seat could have been saved, at the very minimum.

“The blue wave is an easy excuse for the consultants and party leaders who refuse to change the way they operate and refuse to do a better job at messaging,” he said. “That’s the unfortunate part.”

War economy

Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, a veteran Republican campaign consultant and strategist, ran four conservative candidates in municipal races this cycle. She said the blue wave extended to local contests and that this was the first time in her 30-year career that her candidates lost every one of them.

“I think we as Republicans created that inevitability,” she said. “We created it because of what was happening in D.C.”

Mayo-DeRiso partly blamed the blue wave on policies from the White House and the Republican majorities in Congress, such as the war in Iran.

While Alan Stock, a conservative radio host in Las Vegas, touted President Donald Trump’s policies following his predecessor’s tenure, he also placed some of the blame on the war.

Stock said that he respects Trump’s decision to embark on a military conflict with Iran, but said that it has gone on too long. He pointed to the president’s initial promise that the conflict would be over in a few days and his subsequent attempts to micromanage the conflict.

“He did not give the prosecution of the war to the generals,” he said.

Muth said that he thinks a substantial number of Republicans voted for Democrats this month.

“It was all on the pocketbook issues about the economy: $5 gas,” he said. “Every time you go to the gas pump, you’re reminded which party was in charge in Washington, D.C., and Republicans paid a price for it.”

Vision for the future

Although they disagree with their policies, the conservative operatives acknowledged that Democrats outmaneuvered Republicans this cycle.

Stock noted that the opposing party turned out their electorate in higher numbers, particularly among younger and more diverse voters. He said that he thinks Republicans should try to replicate that strategy.

“The socialist movement has no clue in the world what they’re asking for, but they’ve got a lot of young people involved,” Stock said. “Conversely, Republicans in this state did not turn out.”

Mayo-DeRiso brought up Benitez-Thompson’s win.

“I think the Democrat that was elected is probably a very good candidate,” she said. “I’ve heard good things about her,” she added.

Mayo-DeRiso said that Nevada Republicans need to rebrand and bolster their conservative bona fides.

“At some point, the Republican Party has to agree on a common message,” she said. “We’ve got to understand that at the end of the day, this is marketing. You know, we have to sell a product, and that product is conservative ideas. We have to identify our customers.”

Muth said that Republicans must recruit new candidates.

“But even more importantly, they need to do a much better job on development,” he said.

Muth pointed to a Democratic edge in that area.

“The Democrats have an excellent program that’s been in place for years called Emerge (America), where they develop candidates, and I think … it’s for developing women candidates; Democrat candidates to run for office,” he said.

Added Muth: “And until we get on the right program like the Democrats’ Emerge program, we’re going to continue to be just throwing people on the ballot and just hope for the best, rather than actually preparing our candidates to run and win tough and close elections.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.