With GOP wave building, Biden to stump Vegas Saturday

Vice President Joe Biden will come to Las Vegas on Saturday in a bid to boost Democratic voter turnout and counter a Republican early voting advantage that’s approaching 20,000 ballots cast so far.

The Biden visit will come the day after early voting ends Friday and three days before Tuesday’s Election Day. And it follows a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Democrats are worried that the strong early voting GOP lead could result in the defeat of U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., and Republican victories up and down the ballot, from the five state constitutional offices to the Nevada Assembly and Senate, possibly giving the GOP control of the upper state house.

Horsford’s Republican opponent in the 4th Congressional District is Assemblyman Cresent Hardy, R-Mesquite. Since early voting began, Hardy has received ad and financial help from the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the House. A GOP group, Crossroads GPS, also is running $935,000 worth of TV ads against Horsford.

On Wednesday, an aide for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it had reserved $360,000 on Las Vegas broadcast to defend the freshman Horsford from the Crossroads GPS ads.

As of Wednesday morning, the GOP had a 19,683-ballot lead over Democrats from early voting, including absentee and mail-in ballots. Republicans have bested Democrats every day of the two-week early voting period so far.

No details were available about Biden’s Saturday visit.

In July, the vice president came to Las Vegas to stump for Erin Bilbray, the Democratic challenger of U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., who is seeking a third term in the 3rd Congressional District. Heck is expected to win re-election.

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