Nevada Judge Denies GOP Request to Block 2024 Presidential Primary
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, July 10, a Nevada judge denied the Nevada Republican Party’s (NV GOP) request to block a state law mandating parties to hold primaries for the 2024 presidential election. This is a major victory for voters as the court rejected the NV GOP’s blatant attempt to re-write the state’s election law and disregard voters’ preferences.
In 2021, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed Assembly Bill 126, which transitioned the state from a caucus system to a primary system for nominating presidential candidates. In a recently filed lawsuit, the NV GOP alleged that A.B. 126 “threatens to obstruct the rights of the NV GOP and Nevada citizens under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to freely associate.” In turn, the GOP requested that a Nevada court block the secretary of state from enforcing the provisions of A.B. 126 that require participation in a presidential primary system.
In addition, the NV GOP requested that the court declare the NV GOP able to select and bind its delegates for the national presidential nominating convention according to its own rules and bylaws or, in the alternative, deem the results of the 2024 presidential primary non-binding if the GOP is compelled to participate in a primary. The court denied these requests.
Notably, the attorney representing the NV GOP in this lawsuit is former failed attorney general candidate and conspiracy theorist, Sigal Chattah. Chattah, who ran as a Republican, has “significant ties” to the conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even “funded the politicians who helped plan the violence on January 6, met with the organizers of the January 6 rally, and called speakers at the January 6 rally her heroes.”
Monday’s decision rejects yet another Republican attempt to weaponize the judicial process in order to subvert the will of voters.