GOP Urges Nevada Gov. Sandoval to Seek Reid's Senate Seat

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval can't catch a post-election rest break without fellow Republicans hammering on his door.

With their sights on the Senate seat of current, and soon to be former, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Republicans are pressing Sandoval to challenge Reid in the 2016 elections, Politico reports.

Republicans are salivating at a chance to kick Reid, who hopes to continue as minority leader after the Republicans take over control in January, completely out of the Senate. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who is about to face his own contest for chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), thinks Sandoval is just the man for the job.

Heller, who, if he wins, will be in charge of recruiting candidates and raising money for the 2016 Senate races, said he and other Republicans already have approached Sandoval, who just won his governor's race against Democrat Bob Goodman with nearly 71 percent of the vote, USA Today reports.

Sandoval is Nevada's first Hispanic governor. Should he step down to challenge Reid, his place would be taken by Republican state Sen. Mark Hutchison, who won election as lieutenant governor, leaving Nevada firmly in Republican hands, Fox News Latino reports.

There is, however, the question of whether Sandoval would want to face Reid.

"We'll wait. We will see what he wants to do," Heller told Politico on Wednesday. "I'm not sure he's made a decision up to this point. I'm not the only one having conversations with him. Others are too. We will give him a little bit of time to do that.

"At this point, it's about business. It's not just about being in the majority; it's about staying in the majority. We will do whatever it takes to make that happen."

Should Sandoval choose not to run, Heller indicated that other Nevada Republicans, such as Reps. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei, or even Hutchison, might step up to the plate against Reid, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

'There are plenty of people I'm sure could play in that race," Heller told the Sun. "We have an opportunity to expand this majority, and we should be thinking of it that way."

More immediately facing Heller is his bid for the NRSC chairmanship, in which he will be opposed by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Sandoval bested Reid by 10 points in a poll run this summer by Harper Polling.
He came out ahead of Reid 53 percent to 43 percent, Fox News Latino reported, but Democratic political analyst Jose Dante Parra said Reid would take the Latino vote in 2016 against Sandoval.

"Sandoval has the last name, but that doesn't make you a defender of the community. Reid has the track record."

Related Stories:

• GOP Sets Defeating Harry Reid in 2016 as Top Priority
• 'Margin Tax' Would Slam Small Businesses in Nev.