Tom Steyer rips GOP during Las Vegas campaign stops
Presidential hopeful Tom Steyer blasted the Republican Party and took careful aim at his more moderate fellow Democratic challengers during a series of Las Vegas campaign stops on Saturday, saying the two parties are locked in a fierce fight that provides little opportunity for compromise.
“If someone is unjust, I am not going to say let’s be half-unjust to get something done,” Steyer told a group of League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada members at his Las Vegas campaign office. “No, we need to win.”
During his discussion with the league and a breakfast with Hispanics in Politics, Steyer kept to a theme of Republicans cheating to get ahead at the expense of the majority of Americans. He accused President Donald Trump of “running for election while despising 80 percent of citizens,” including women and people of color.
Steyer said empowering voters and getting them to the polls unimpeded would lead to Democratic gains across the country. He called for sweeping governmental reforms in order to rip power from politicians, including dissolving the electoral college, term limits for congressional members and possibly adding more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.
— Support for Nevada redistricting reform Sondra Cosgrove, president of the local League of Women Voters, immediately pressed Steyer on whether he supports the league’s efforts to establish an independent, nonpartisan commission to draw the state’s congressional and legislative boundaries. Steyer said he does, even though some local Democrats have opposed the idea and even sued to stop it.
When asked about Democratic opposition to the amendment, Steyer told reporters he had “enormous confidence that Democrats and the Democratic Party will end up doing the right thing.”
— “They’re willing to be cruel.” Steyer said Republicans have played dirty by blocking the appointment of federal judges under former President Barack Obama and rushing through a throng of Trump appointees who “continue to be so at odds with the values of America.” He said Trump and his allies have been willing to hurt entire groups of Americans for political gain.
— Republican response In response, Trump campaign spokesman Keith Schipper said Steyer’s “impeachment-obsessed vanity project turned presidential campaign doesn’t resonate with Nevadans.”
“While Steyer lights more of his money on fire pushing a radical agenda,” Schipper said, “Nevada caucus-goers continue to reap the benefits of President Trump’s America First agenda.”
— True Q&A sessions While many of the Democratic favorites for the nomination typically only answer written or pre-selected questions at their events, Steyer opened the floor in earnest at both Las Vegas stops.
Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.