DNC official meets with Nevada Democrats over voter ID law

The head of the Democratic National Committee met Friday with Nevada activists to discuss strategies to defeat a proposed voter ID law that could hurt the party’s turnout here in the 2016 presidential election.

“The voter ID proposal by Republicans here is very troubling,” the DNC chairwoman, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said in an interview. “It’s a solution in search of a problem,” she added, saying there’s almost no voter fraud in Nevada and no need to require IDs at the ballot box. “It’s a voter suppression tactic.”

Still, Wasserman Schultz, who was in town for two days to meet with political donors, Democratic lawmakers and leaders and union members, said she’s confident Democrats will win the battleground Silver State in the White House race after a dismal showing in the midterm elections last year. She said voters will reject what she characterized as a “clown car” full of GOP contenders.

“I think the Democratic nominee will be the president of the United States,” she said, whether or not that nominee is former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is the early favorite and is expected to announce a formal campaign in the coming months. “We’ll have plenty of excitement.”

The national party does not take sides in primaries, but coordinates efforts to get voters engaged in the election and organizes the national convention.

Democrats are battling efforts across the country to impose new voter ID requirements and tighten up other election rules after more Republican governors and lawmakers won election and as civil rights leaders protest changes they argue could disenfranchise thousands of voters. Now, 17 states require photo IDs to vote and 19 states have non-photo ID requirements.

Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican and former state legislator, is looking to back a bill in the Legislature to impose a voter ID law in the state. GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval has supported the idea of voter ID in the past and so would likely sign such a bill if the GOP-run Legislature approves it.

Wasserman Schultz wouldn’t discuss specific tactics Democrats might employ to defeat any voter ID proposal in Nevada.

She also is focused on figuring out why Democrats generally don’t do as well in midterm elections as in presidential years. As a result of the lower voter turnout in 2014, the GOP grabbed control of the U.S. Senate and in Nevada gained majorities in the state Senate and Assembly. Republicans also won all the top constitutional offices in Nevada, making for a total red sweep in the state as a national Republican tide washed over the rest of the country as well.

“We had a lot of people who stayed on the sidelines,” Wasserman Schultz said.

In response, she appointed a Democratic Victory Task Force to study how the party can do better in future elections. The task force is set to deliver recommendations at the DNC’s winter meeting Feb. 19-21 in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans are preparing for the open White House contest in 2016, which is expected to be highly competitive.

Since 2008, Nevada has played a major role in deciding the parties’ presidential nominees, holding the first caucus in the West after Iowa and New Hampshire votes.

Some two dozen Republicans have been mentioned as possible White House contenders, ranging from establishment picks such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to up-and-comers Tea Party darlings such as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Wassserman Schulz dismissed the GOP contenders and criticized them for trying to portray themselves as fighters for the middle class, a developing theme of late. She said voters should look at candidates’ records and compare them to their rhetoric.

“Jeb Bush is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” she said, noting she was serving in the state Legislature when he was governor. As for Rubio, she scoffed at his candidacy, saying he has his finger in the political wind and fears upsetting tea party backers.

“The Republican field is a clown car,” she said. “It’s a free-for-all of extremism.”

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.