Cisco Aguilar
Who: Cisco Aguilar
Where: Nevada Secretary of State
Why: One of the most disturbing—and largely unreported—results from the June 16 primaries occurred in the state of Nevada, where former state Assemblyman Jim Marchant won the Republican nod to challenge Democratic incumbent Cisco Aguilar in a rematch for Secretary of State.
Marchant is an election denier who lost to Aguilar by just two percentage points in 2022. The winner in November would become the chief elections officer of a battleground state for the 2028 presidential election—overseeing election procedures, supervising county election officials and certifying statewide results.
Currently all registered voters in Nevada receive mail-in ballots and vote primarily by mail, and the state ranks above average in voter turnout. According to Marchant’s campaign website, he would require all voters to re-register and all voting would take place in person on one day using hand-counted paper ballots.
Aguilar led the passage of a bill in the Nevada legislature that makes it a felony to harass or dox election officials, and he has worked to increase voter turnout among Native American and younger voters. He is a lawyer and founder of a sports technology start-up who also chairs the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.
Marchant claimed that he was a victim of election fraud when he lost a 2020 bid for Congress, and during his 2022 campaign, he told a podcast host that anyone who had won an election in Nevada since 2006 was “installed by the deep-state cabal.” Until his own primary victory this week, that is, which he celebrated without questioning its validity.
Sources: AP, Ballotpedia, Democracy Docket, The Downballot
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