Big-time self-funding highlights GOP primary in Nevada's 3rd District
Nevada's 3rd District is a light-blue seat around Las Vegas held by three-term Democratic Rep. Susie Lee that will likely host the state's most competitive House race. The two most notable Republican contenders may be video game music composer Marty O'Donnell and former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz, although policy analyst and advocate Drew Johnson and former state Sen. Elizabeth Helgelien are also in the mix. O'Donnell has Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo's endorsement, and he'd raised $541,000 as of May 22 ($500,000 out of his own pocket). That was less than the $922,000 Schwartz had raised ($900,000 in self-funding). But on May 24, O'Donnell gave himself an additional $700,000, meaning he's likely outdistanced Schwartz's total. Meanwhile, Johnson has raised $432,000 ($300,000 self-funded) and Helgelien has raised $282,000.
Interestingly, O'Donnell has said he won't accept money from corporate political action committees, a line we more typically hear from Democrats. This may help explain why Johnson has called O'Donnell a "Seattle liberal." Meanwhile, Schwartz has cast himself as the candidate who will "drain the swamp," but his post-treasurer electoral track record isn't inspiring: He lost GOP primaries for governor in 2018, U.S. House in 2020 and lieutenant governor in 2022. Helgelien left the state legislature in 2012, but she does have endorsements from Trump acolytes like Roger Stone and hard-right Republican Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538