Ex-Californians who fled to Nevada could shift state for Trump

Nevada is one of the states where disgruntled, frustrated and downright angry conservative Republicans from California decide to move to. They all remember Vice President Kamala Harris when she was California’s attorney general and then senator. A few even knew her as the DA from San Francisco. They blame her and state officials like Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for destroying a jurisdiction that used to be thriving and expanding. And now they live in the one battleground state that Harris views as a probable victory and could tip the balance for the Republicans, Politico is reporting.

Since 2020, 150,000 Californians have moved themselves, their families and their businesses to Nevada, Politico noted. They comprise 20 percent of the state’s population and many are motivated to vote Republican because they came to Nevada to get away from the intrusive nanny state that California has become. Some liberals have migrated to Nevada as well and that might account for the state being such a red and blue mix of purple.

But there are a lot fewer registered Democrats in Nevada today than there were in 2020 and that difference might add up to a Trump victory, especially since Independent voters have been leaning Trump per polling. Biden won the state by 34,000 votes in 2020. Trump could win it by about the same in 2024 if his supporters come through, Politico noted.

Jim DeMartini used to have a farm in Modesto, CA. But he moved to Nevada in 2020 entirely because of politics. “California just got to be a communist state,” he told me. “[It was] Kamala Harris, it was Governor Newsom, it was a leftist, anti-business legislature who just felt they had to control everything. They even went so far as banning straws,” he told Politico.

“I think ex-Californians could certainly be a significant help [to making Nevada red in November],” Nevada Republican State Sen. Jeff Stone told the outlet. “They can also explain to Nevadans what Kamala Harris did as a district attorney in San Francisco, as the attorney general in the state of California.”

Joe Dutra is another Republican from California. He says the business people who have landed in Nevada are all loyal Republicans who know what Harris’ brand of politics did to California, and “just believe in less regulations and lower taxes.” And he thinks their numbers might have reached a critical mass that could take Nevada for Trump. “I think I’ve seen a lot more people moving out in the last four years,” he says. “It’s been a big push.”