Tarkanian believes Trump wants him to beat Heller in GOP primary — VIDEO

Danny Tarkanian believes President Donald Trump wants him to beat Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada’s Republican primary. Tarkanian isn’t counting on an endorsement, however, because he knows Trump needs Heller’s vote to pass legislation.

Tarkanian made his comments Wednesday on reviewjournal.com’s “Nevada Politics Today.”

“President Trump needs Dean Heller’s support on other bills that he’s trying to pass, so it’d be pretty unrealistic to think that he’s trying to come out and attack Dean Heller now, while he’s still waiting for the votes to come through,” Tarkanian said.

“President Trump came to Nevada just before his election and he thanked me personally for supporting him when all the other GOP elected officials, including Dean Heller, repudiated Donald Trump during the election and said they wouldn’t vote for him. He thanked me for having the courage to do so, said I was his main man.

“I believe he will want me to win. How much he’ll come out publicly or not, I don’t know that answer. But I’ll tell you this: There’s no way Dean Heller can get away from the fact that he was a Never Trumper in the last election.”

Tarkanian also believes that Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake’s Tuesday announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2018 will bring more interest to the Nevada primary.

“It focuses national attention on the Nevada race,” Tarkanian said. “Before it was the Arizona race that was getting the most attention, because Sen. Flake had come out so strongly against President Trump. I think now all the focus in the primary will be on this race between myself and Dean Heller.”

While Tarkanian says he expects to win the primary, he said he would support Heller over announced Democrat candidate and U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen. Tarkanian also said he’s open to restricting bump stocks by revisiting regulations. Bump stocks were used in the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting to increase the rate of gunfire.

Tarkanian concluded by pledging his opposition to Obamacare.

“I absolutely will vote to repeal Obamacare,” Tarkanian said. “You have to have courage and conviction to make that vote. I have that courage and conviction and Dean Heller has shown he does not.

If it involves Nevada Politics, we’re talking about it on “Nevada Politics Today.” Join us every Thursday for a new episode on reviewjournal.com.