Trump bus tour stops in Las Vegas on Monday

“Nevada matters, and you have a responsibility in this race,” said Richard Grenell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany. “California, Washington and Oregon are not in play, but Nevada is. This presidential race can be impacted by you.”

Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald acted as host for the brief bus stop at the campaign’s Latinos for Trump office. The tour is part of a week’s worth of Republican events competing with the Democratic National Convention, which began Monday.

He stressed the tour, which will head back through Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado on its way east, was a way for the Trump campaign to promote unity and listen to the needs of communities throughout the country.

Economy best argument

Many of the speakers focused on Trump’s marshaling of a strong economy prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with former Nevada attorney general and state campaign chairman Adam Laxalt comparing Nevada’s current state to the Great Recession.

“The recession hit Nevada worse than anywhere, and it took Nevada longer to recover,” Laxalt said. “And who was at the head of that recovery? An Obama/Biden administration. We know what a slow recovery looks like, and we can’t afford that again.”

The speakers also railed against “rioting” in city streets and calls to defund the police.

“Defunding our police hurts Latinos, because we know there will be more crime in our neighborhoods,” said Jesus Marquez, a Las Vegas political consultant, radio personality and Latinos for Trump co-chairman. “(Trump) has been the best president for Latinos in decades.”

Marquez and Grenell said Trump received about 30 percent of the Nevada Latino vote in 2016.

“If we move those numbers to 34, 35 or even the high 30s, we will win the state for Donald Trump,” Grenell said.

Republican congressional candidates Dan Rodimer (Nevada’s 3rd District) and Jim Marchant (4th District) also joined the bus tour.

Critics of vote-by-mail

The group also criticized the recent expansion of vote-by-mail in Nevada.

In an interview after the stop, McDonald said he viewed new rules on ballot collecting, or “harvesting,” and counting ballots after Election Day as “illegal.” The state party and Trump’s campaign have sued Nevada to block the changes.

The Nevada Legislature in its recent special session passed Assembly Bill 4, which specifically allows for ballot harvesting, but ballots must be postmarked by Election Day to be counted. A provision of the new law — which passed on party-line votes in both houses of the Legislature — says that if a postmark is missing or illegible, but the ballot is received within three days after Election Day, it is assumed it was mailed by the deadline.

However, McDonald said the party is prepared to adjust to the new rules if necessary.

“(Democrats) have set the rules. We’ll play by those rules,” McDonald said. “We are prepared to take innovative and drastic steps to make sure the president gets re-elected, but more importantly, that every vote counts. If your vote’s sitting at home, like our senior citizens — (Democrats) have set the table, and we’ll be ready.”

The Nevada State Democratic Party criticized the bus tour as “recklessly endangering public safety in the middle of a pandemic” by holding a live campaign event. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has mounted an almost exclusively online campaign during the pandemic.

“This political stunt won’t distract Nevadans from the disastrous consequences of Trump’s failed leadership, which will be on full display for the country to see tonight,” party Chairman William McCurdy II said.

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.