Chachas files to run for Senate

Welcome to the political mosh pit.

Republican John Chachas filed Thursday to run for Democrat Harry Reid's Senate seat, and Assemblyman Chad Christensen, R-Las Vegas, announced his late-hour entry in the race, making for a record primary field of at least 10 Republican candidates.

The packed GOP ballot adds an "anything can happen" air to the June 8 primary contest, in which the winner might need only about 40,000 votes, campaign strategists said.

"I ran into Chad today, and I was telling him, 'My goodness, with so many of us in the race, we're going to be running into each other all over the place,'" Chachas said after he filed with the secretary of state's office. "I've been joking that I think we ought to buy the old set of 'Family Feud.' We can line up half of us on one side and the other half on the other side when we debate."

In all, a score of contenders are competing in the race, including 10 Republicans, five Democrats, three nonpartisans and one each for the Independent American Party and the Tea Party of Nevada.

The Democratic and Republican primaries will choose a nominee for the Nov. 2 general election.

The previous Senate primary candidate record was set in 1992 when six Republicans competed to face Reid, who won the Democratic contest against three opponents, including one who ran as "God Almighty," according to voting information in the "Political History of Nevada – 2006."

This year, the 70-year-old Reid is facing an uphill battle to win a fifth Senate term, and the crowded slate of candidates is another sign that he is seen as vulnerable.

Chachas, a New York investment banker and Ely native, is considered a serious dark-horse candidate -- although he has been out of state for two decades and doesn't have high name recognition -- because he has fundraising contacts and he is willing to spend more than $1 million of his own money.

The primary could cost candidates up to $2.5 million each, and the general election will require millions of dollars more as Reid plans to raise and spend up to $25 million.

Chachas is running as an outsider in a year in which there's a lot of anti-establishment and anti-incumbent feeling among voters tired of the partisan bickering and gridlock in Washington.

"I'm a businessman with national experience who worked with some of the largest companies and some of the smallest companies," Chachas said. "I think I have a distinct set of skills that are valuable in Washington. I think I just have to convince the people of Nevada of that."

Ryan Erwin, who is running Chachas' campaign, said another calculation is electoral math in an off-year in which voter turnout is often low and is expected to be around 130,000 for Republicans in 2010.

Those numbers could rise, however, if candidates and parties make a big get-out-the-vote effort.

"It's really amazing that the winner could get less than 30 percent of the vote" with so many candidates, Erwin said. "Someone could become the Republican nominee with less than 40,000 votes."

Assemblyman Christensen, who plans to file today, said the electoral math also is a key reason he decided to enter the race, although he's starting late and doesn't have a lot of money yet.

In his previous election in 2008, Christensen won with more than 40,000 votes, he said, because his district is so large, accounting for about 14 percent of the registered voters in Nevada.

"To win the primary, I just need to get those people to vote for me again and maybe add another couple thousand votes," Christensen said.

He added that a friend once told him the secret of political success is this: "Don't ever forget who you are and don't ever forget people who voted for you."

Christensen, who said Republican Party leaders in Nevada tried to discourage him from getting into the race, touts himself as the only conservative Senate candidate who's now in office, demonstrating a consistent voting record that shows he is against taxes and for smaller government.

"Me and my wife have traveled the state and have talked to voters who are discouraged by the other candidates in the race," Christensen said. "It's very clear that they're looking for someone like me who has a conservative voting record and who they can trust."

Sue Lowden, a casino executive and former state senator, is the current GOP front-runner in the race, followed by Danny Tarkanian, a businessman and former UNLV basketball star, and then former Reno Assemblywoman Sharron Angle. All have been beating Reid in early opinion polls.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.

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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Frank.Pelteson Mar. 12, 2010 | 10:41 a.m. Report Abuse

   Republican John Chachas is a wealthy, Northern Nevada ranch owner who is a Harvard graduate that consults for Lazard Fréres, a Wall Street Investment Bank firm. He is therefore connected to the INSIDERS. He is a specialist at rescuing faltering companies. He probably uses his Northern Nevada home as a retreat from the hubbub of New York.
   
   His pedigree wouldn't be considered very compatible with those credentials required by Nevada Constitutionalists and by informed John Birch Society members.
   
   In my opinion, Republican Candidate Sharron Angle probably has the properties closest to those compatible with the requirements set by Nevada Constitutionalists and the John Birch Society membership in Nevada. She probably also is the least funded candidate among the Republican contenders. She always has resisted raising taxes as a state legislator, and she is from less-populated Northern Nevada, not from the majority-populated "liberal cesspool," of Southern Nevada. Her name-recognition is small in Southern Nevada.
   
   Neoconservatives Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian are probably Republican favorites, so far.
   
   They would probably lose to Reid, because they would not want to bring Reid's type of redistributed pork into the "rice-bowl mentality" state of Nevada.

2. Greg.Chachas Mar. 12, 2010 | 8:55 a.m. Report Abuse

   His family are ranchers and miners and have been in Nevada since the early 1900s. His Dad and Cousins have all been in Nevada politics.
   
   He went away and built a career and attended two great schools and made a fortune.
   
   Instead you idiots want to send a blonde air head from New Jersey into this race in June? Simple Sue has no chance against Reid. None.
   
   That's wasting your vote.

3. blackvegas Mar. 12, 2010 | 4:19 a.m. Report Abuse

   We are all victims of the Neo-cons lying us into war, killing and maiming tens of thousands of Americans and destroying our reputation around the world.
   What would make people overlook this? RACISM!
   
   We are all victims of the Neo-con's past and current deregulation policies allowing Wall Street to fleece our national treasure, force Americans out of their homes and jobs with irresponsible transactions that nearly destroyed our country.
   What would make us overlook that? RACISM!
   
   We are all victims of the right-wing lies and propaganda like Death Panels, Non American President, government takeover of health care, Socialists in government, to name a few, with tens of Americans dying and citizens slandering each other daily. What would make Americans overlook this? RACISM!
   
   All Nevada Republicans are victims when Low Life Lowden throws out all votes because she doesn't like the winner. What would make Nevadans over look that? IGNORANT RACISM!
   
   
   What would make Nevadans overlook all of the crippling tragedies perpetrated by Right Wing-Nuts on this country and why in the hell would any sane person vote these nation killing criminals back into power? IGNORANCE!
   
   As a non black Republican, I am told daily at work about how embarrassing it is to have a non-white, non-American President and that we should do all we can to attack him and his supporters!
   
   So to you who always cry Socialism,
   I know now it is OK destroy our country and state, as long as we are white!
   
   You would have to be dumb or racist to vote for wing-nuts after all the damage they've caused this country and her citizens!
   
   How ironic for these closet racist who willy nilly use the word Socialism to decry the use of the word racism?
   
   Well, if the shoe fits....