In Nevada’s third Congressional District, a libertarian is operating as a Republican to not solely unseat a Democrat in Congress, however to assist form the social gathering’s post-Donald-Trump future. Will it work?
Drew Johnson grew up in Nashville however moved to the Las Vegas space in 2015. His libertarian bona fides go means again: He was raised in poverty by a single mom, who he says lied about their deal with in order that he can be zoned into a greater college district. He calls it his household’s private model of faculty selection, a topic he stays captivated with.
At age 24, he based the Tennessee Heart for Coverage Analysis, a free market suppose tank now referred to as the Beacon Heart of Tennessee. His first declare to fame got here in 2007, when he discovered, by means of open information requests, that former Vice President Al Gore’s Tennessee house used 20 instances extra electrical energy than the nationwide common, regardless of Gore’s rhetoric in regards to the significance of environmental stewardship.
Johnson has held fellowships on the Taxpayer Protection Alliance and the R Street Institute. He additionally served because the opinion editor for the Chattanooga Occasions Free Press, and beneath his tenure, the paper endorsed Gary Johnson for president in 2012—which he tells Purpose was “one in all my prouder journalistic moments.”
Now, he hopes that very same pro-freedom, restricted authorities agenda will win him a seat in Congress. And it is fairly attainable that he’ll pull it off.
The Prepare dinner Political Report lists the congressional race in Nevada’s third as one in all this cycle’s best. The outlet says the race “leans Democratic,” in favor of incumbent Rep. Susie Lee, however that the district additionally leans barely extra Republican than the nation as a complete, choosing Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by a single proportion level in 2016. Lee won reelection in 2022 by solely 4 factors. With voters so evenly divided between two camps, the district is ripe for a candidate not neatly aligned with both social gathering.
However regardless of touting his work through the years advocating a substitute for the 2 main events, Johnson is operating as a Republican. He prevailed in a primary subject of seven whole candidates, capturing 32 p.c of the vote. Johnson tells Purpose that he credit “one-on-one conversations, door-knocking,” and old style “retail politics” for his success, in addition to his platform’s enchantment to the district’s unbiased streak.
He has additionally credited identify recognition gained from his run for Clark County district commissioner in 2022, which he solely misplaced by 336 votes, or four-tenths of a proportion level. “You had two guys who spent 1,000,000 {dollars} plus on TV,” he told The Nevada Independent. “We spent a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} reaching out to voters individually.”
Johnson evokes Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie, two Kentucky Republicans with libertarian streaks, as examples of what he can be like in Congress. And like Paul and Massie, Johnson is keen to play the political sport when obligatory.
For instance, he’s vital of tariffs. “I am alarmed by new tariffs being thought of on the Commerce Division,” he wrote in a 2023 editorial for the Reno Gazette Journal. “If these new tariffs go into impact, Nevadans will quickly face greater costs….American corporations would pay the tariffs—and go the prices on to shoppers.”
Trump, however, says “tariff” is “probably the most lovely phrase within the dictionary.” But Johnson endorsed the previous president early, in January, pledging his assist in each the overall election and the Nevada Republican main. (Trump reciprocated in August, providing Johnson “my Full and Whole Endorsement.”)
Paul and Massie, notably, haven’t made presidential endorsements for the overall election: Massie endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis throughout the Republican main, whereas final month, Paul explained that whereas he’s “persuadable,” he isn’t able to publicly endorse Trump.
For his half, Johnson says it was clear from early on that Trump can be the Republican nominee, so it made sense to get an endorsement out of the best way. Apart from, he notes, Kentucky is a reliably pink state, whereas Nevada is purple: “If I might help President Trump right here, then I am joyful to do it.” He says that whereas Trump “is not excellent…I can not consider something Kamala [Harris] is true on.”
Johnson permits that if each he and Trump are elected subsequent month, he’ll fortunately and brazenly oppose the president’s pursuit of insurance policies which can be incompatible with smaller authorities or particular person liberty. “I will not be an obstructionist for the sake of being an obstructionist,” he says. “However I am going to by no means do one thing that is not constitutional, wastes taxpayers’ cash, restricts private freedom, or expands authorities.”
And irrespective of who turns into the subsequent president, Johnson says Republicans might want to have a “dialog” about what the social gathering appears to be like like in a post-Trump future. And he is operating as a Republican, partly, as a result of he desires a seat on the desk once they do.
“I wish to assist lead the dialog about what the post-Trump Republican Get together appears to be like like,” he says, in distinction to the “statist, populist, anti-free market” social gathering it’s as we speak. “I wish to be ready to information the Republican Get together away from massive authorities populism, away from social points, and in the direction of a extra free market, restricted authorities, fiscally accountable, and inclusive path.”
