Speaker Yeager’s PAC spends $80K on attack ads of Republican legislator

A political action committee tied to Nevada Speaker Steve Yeager gave $80,000 this fundraising quarter to another PAC that has been running attack ads against Republican Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama, a legislator in a historically red district that Democrats say they hope to flip.

The Nevada Strong PAC sent $40,000 in August and another $40,000 in October to the political organization Ending Carson City Corruption, according to the PAC’s latest campaign contribution and expense report.

Ending Carson City Corruption has run a series of advertisements through a variety of media — from text messages to Facebook — against Kasama, who is facing Democratic candidate Ron Nelsen in Assembly District 2, which covers parts of Summerlin and Summerlin South.

Kasama filed to run for Congress against Rep. Susie Lee but decided to seek re-election in the Legislature to help Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s fight against a potential Democratic supermajority.

One text message advertisement sent out Tuesday, paid for by Ending Carson City Corruption, calls Kasama a RINO, or “Republican in Name Only,” and claims she is “the least conservative Republican in Nevada’s Legislature.” Another claims she wants to raise people’s property taxes.

Yeager, who said he does not operate the End Carson City Corruption PAC nor tell it how to spend its money, described his actions as an effort to flip Kasama’s seat blue.

Her district, which she has held since 2020, is made up of 32 percent Republicans, 31 percent Democrats and 29 percent nonpartisans.

Democrats must gain a seat in the Senate and keep their party control in the Assembly in order to achieve supermajorities in both chambers, which would give the party the power to override the governor’s vetoes if they so choose.

“It is the most competitive seat by the numbers beyond the 28 that we currently hold,” Yeager said in an email.

The speaker also highlighted reasons why he’d rather see Nelsen in that seat, including Kasama’s decisions to vote against bills that aimed to lower the cost of prescription drugs, provide a free school breakfast and lunch program, crack down on landlords and reduce the cost of housing.

“Simply stated, her voting record shows that she is nothing more than a rubber stamp for Governor Lombardo,” Yeager said in an email. “Assembly District 2 deserves better representation.”

Kasama called the speaker’s actions “extremely disappointing” and claimed it was retribution for proposing bills aimed to increase transparency and accountability in the Legislature by requiring the government body to abide by open meeting and public records laws.

“To be attacked for this, I don’t think it speaks well to the leadership,” she said.

The assemblywoman said she finds it disingenuous for the PAC to be called “Ending Carson City Corruption” when her bills aim to increase transparency in the Legislature.

Kasama put forward three bill draft requests: one would require all proposed bills to be made public 72 hours before they can be finalized, one to require the Legislature to adhere to the Open Meeting Law and a third giving the governor line-item veto power over appropriations and restricting state funding to nonprofits unless accompanied by oversight.

Last year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported how at least 13 legislators had connections to nonprofit organizations that received more than $33 million from the state in the last legislative session, prompting ethics concerns in Nevada.

“I would have hoped that the leadership would have worked to find a way to improve the Legislature, how it runs and how it can work better for the entire state of Nevada,” Kasama said.

Yeager denied that his actions have anything to do with the assemblywoman’s bill draft requests, though he said the Nevada Constitution requires each bill be read three times on three different days in each chamber, meeting that 72-hour standard already.

Kasama said she has no plans to raise property taxes, and she said it is “silly” the campaign used the “RINO” language, which is often seen from Republicans in primaries.

“It’s absurd they’re using it and spending money to send it to Republicans,” she said.

Kasama isn’t the only legislator facing attacks from the other side in seats that have historically been in their party’s favor.

The Lombardo-aligned Better Nevada PAC has taken stabs at Democratic incumbents in districts that favor Democrats. Better Nevada paid for a website criticizing Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, calling her a “political operative masquerading as an elected official,” as well as a website attacking Assemblywoman Shea Backus, calling her “too shady” for Nevada.

Jauregui faces Republican Rafael Arroyo in Assembly District 41, where Democrats make up 33 percent of the electorate, Republicans 26 percent and nonpartisans 32 percent. Backus faces Republican candidate David Brog in Assembly District 37, which is made up of 34 percent Democrats, 31 percent Republicans and 28 percent nonpartisans.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.