Nevada Sen. Dean Heller is testing the political perils of opposing President Trump from inside his own party, with the entrance into the 2018 Republican primary Tuesday of Danny Tarkanian.
Tarkanian, a five-time failed candidate for public office, is wrapping himself in the mantle of Trump, vowing to be an enthusiastic, loyal soldier for the president in the Senate, where Heller tends to vote with the White House, though not blindly and at times reluctantly.
"I am a conservative Republican who supports the policies of President Trump to repeal Obamacare and end illegal immigration," Tarkanian said in a statement. "I will continue to support President Trump's policies that have led to a 20 percent increase in the stock market in just six months."
Heller endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 GOP presidential primary and never fully embraced Trump after he won the nomination. The senator sparked the president's ire recently by opposing the initial version of the Senate GOP proposal to partially repeal Obamacare.
He later voted for an amended package, but not before Trump's official outside political group, America First Policies, ramped up an advertising campaign in Nevada to punish Heller and the president personally chided him for throwing a wrench in the gears of the repeal effort.
Get the Exclusive
01.19.2025