Donald Trump's chances of taking a swing state in the 2024 presidential election are seemingly nonexistent, according to one former state attorney general.
Adam Laxalt is the former Republican attorney general of Nevada who also served as Trump's campaign chair in the state during the 2020 election. Having lost the 2018 Nevada gubernatorial race and a run for the U.S. Senate last year despite Trump's endorsement both times, he has moved on from the former president and currently chairs a political action committee (PAC) supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's 2024 presidential campaign.
Speaking with NBC News for a report published Friday, Laxalt dismissed Trump's chances of winning Nevada in the 2024 general election as negligible, given the many headwinds he is currently facing and the fact that he lost the state in 2016 and 2020. Given the importance of swing state victories for both his 2016 victory and 2020 defeat, Trump will likely need to take as many as he can get if he hopes to retake the White House in the next election cycle.
"Trump hasn't won Nevada the last two go-arounds," Laxalt said. "I was a two-time Trump chair. I don't see a path for him to win Nevada in a general election. Those voters are not coming back."
Nevada has not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since 2004, when George W. Bush carried the state in his reelection win over John Kerry. Despite that history, Republican strategists looking ahead see the state as a viable battleground in 2024. DeSantis is set to visit Nevada soon for an appearance at the annual Basque Fry, an event that regularly draws thousands of conservative Nevadan voters.
In response to Laxalt's comments, Trump strategist Chris LaCivita called out the former attorney general for his own history of electoral failures.
"So Adam Laxalt, who lost the governor's race in '18 and lost the Senate race in '22, is lecturing President Trump?" LaCivita said. "That's the pot calling the kettle black."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press team via email for comment.
Trump is currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, regularly leading the rest of the GOP pack of candidates by double-digits in the early polls, despite his mounting legal woes. DeSantis, long considered Trump's main rival for the nomination, has seen his support dwindle in recent months amid questions about his leadership and social graces. Other candidates, like Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Tim Scott have consistently drawn single-digit support in the polls.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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