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Former President Donald Trump wields a powerful spell over Illinois Republicans with a majority declaring him as their top choice for the White House in 2024 and even more believing legally he should still be there.

More than two-thirds of the states GOP voters believe Trump actually won the 2020 election. And nearly nine out of ten still like the combative former president.

Those are some of the conclusions of a new Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll that takes the political pulse of a state GOP eagerly trying to regain its political footing in Springfield but facing a split between its rising Trump-allegiant wing and its longtime establishment wing seeking to avoid being clipped.

Trump lost Illinois by 17 percentage points in 2020. But Republicans here arent bailing on him, despite that reelection drubbing, his double impeachment or bipartisan congressional hearings aimed at highlighting his bellicose role in the fatal Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington

Those undeniable and historic stains on Trumps record seem virtually unnoticed by some of the Republicans polled by the Sun-Times and WBEZ.

In fact, its almost like none of it happened or matters. Large numbers of Illinois Republicans still put Trump on a pedestal alongside arguably the partys most revered president of the 20th Century, Ronald Reagan, a product of downstate Tampico.

One of the big stories from this poll is it really shows Trumps continued hold on Republican primary voters, said Jim Williams, a polling analyst with Public Policy Polling, the North Carolina-based pollster that conducted the Sun-Times/WBEZ survey on June 6 and 7.

Nationally, Trumps grip on the Republican Party has come under question, particularly after he whiffed in his high-profile primary endorsements in Georgia, Nebraska, Idaho and North Carolina, where he failed to secure reelection for controversial Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

But the Land of Lincoln is solid Trump turf for Illinois Republicans, the Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll suggests.

I know theres been some speculation over the past several months as these primaries have played out whether or not Donald Trump and those Republican primary voters are still in lockstep with each other, Williams said. I think at least on the results of this poll, were seeing a lot of indications that they are.

The survey of 677 likely Republican primary voters also found an overwhelming majority fall into the election-denier category with 67% saying they do not believe the results of the 2020 presidential election were legitimate. Only 18% thought President Joe Biden actually won, while 15% were unsure.

Thats after more than 60 lawsuits were filed by Trump loyalists in state and federal courts around the country alleging fraud in the 2020 presidential election and all failed to yield any evidence to prove it. In February 2021, a series of election-challenge cases were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court a court on which Trump placed three justices.

In opening hearings Thursday by the House January 6th committee, recorded testimony from former Attorney General William Barr revealed Trumps loyal Cabinet official calling the former presidents claims of a stolen election b----. Trumps own daughter, Ivanka, said she accepted Barrs assessment that her father lost the election in additional recorded testimony presented by the committee.

Yet, what does the poll suggest Illinois Republicans believe?

The 2020 election was bogus case closed.

I mean, theres multiple, multiple cases of evidence that this was not a fair election, and nobody wanted to look into it. None of the judges wanted to take the case or anything, and its just really sad, said Diana Kint, a 60-year-old homemaker from south suburban Crete who participated in the poll.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump protest on East Higgins Road in October, hours before President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak at a nearby construction site in Elk Grove Village.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

I think that the reason [Biden] is so unpopular is because nobody wanted him in the first place well not nobody, but you know what Im saying, not enough.

Even though Trumps loss is indisputable, his appeal is off the charts among Republicans statewide 86% view him favorably, according to the poll. And a majority said theyd be more likely to vote for candidates for other offices who had supported him in the past.

Additionally, those answering the poll said the largest group victimized by racism and bigotry is white people, echoing the theme of white grievance that Trump has championed as a candidate and as president.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed believed Trump should run again for president in 2024, with 28% suggesting it was time for the party to move on to another candidate.

But other Republicans considered potential presidential candidates would likely have a tough time beating the former president in an Illinois primary.

Just over half of the states GOP voters chose Trump as their choice in a theoretical 2024 Republican primary.

Considering the way everything is turning out now, how Joe Biden was going to be the savior and unifier and thats not happening, I think [Trump] definitely will run, and hell have my support, said Joe Turkos, a 52-year-old South Loop resident who participated in the Sun-Times/WBEZ poll.

Hes probably in my opinion one of the better presidents that weve had at least in my lifetime, said Turkos, who manages a gym and came around and voted for Trump in 2020 after initially supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Aside from Ronald Reagan, I think he was the most effective Republican president because he governed more as a conservative, his America First platform. Its great. I liked how he was tough on China. He was tough on Russia. He was tough on Iran.

The poll found Trumps next closest rival among the states GOP voters is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom 23% identified as their top choice for president. Trumps past running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, drew support from only 6% of Illinois Republicans.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Cruz, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio drew only single-digit support as top 2024 presidential candidates in the poll. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley received no support.

Thats in contrast to a presidential election straw poll conducted last weekend at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado that showed DeSantis topping Trump, 71% to 67.7%. The next closest was Cruz with 28%. DeSantis also topped Trump in the same poll last year, in a convention dubbed the largest gathering of conservatives in the Western United States.

Those results notwithstanding, the former president still carries robust approval ratings among Illinois Republicans, the poll found.

Eighty-six percent said they either had a very or somewhat favorable opinion of Trump with only 12% indicating any kind of unfavorable view. And the majority of those voters really liked Trump 58% viewed him very favorably.

Biden has just totally destroyed our economy, our border, pretty much everything else hes touched, said Joseph Sikora, a 60-year-old semi-retired home builder from downstate Collinsville, who participated in the poll.

Thats enough for Sikora to once again root for a Trump comeback.

A deeper look at Trumps popularity among Illinois Republicans shows he continues to have what can only be seen as massive support in all corners of the state with his strongest showing in the collar counties, where 88% view him favorably. Among downstate and suburban Cook Republicans, his favorability stands at 86% and in Chicago at 74%.

Whether that popularity rubs off on other candidates has been a hit-or-miss proposition. Trump has mostly stayed out of Illinois politics since leaving the White House, though he has endorsed downstate Rep. Mary Miller in her primary against fellow Republican Rep. Rodney Davis.

In the Republican gubernatorial primary, state Sen. Darren Bailey has made no secret of his efforts to curry favor with the ex-president, visiting Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for a Miller fundraiser in late April. No endorsement has materialized, but that hasnt seemed to harm Bailey, who is up 15 percentage points over Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin in the Sun-Times/WBEZ poll.

The same poll also found that Illinois Republicans embraced some of the same white grievance ideology that Trump championed while in the White House.

Illinois GOP voters were asked to identify who suffers the most from racism and bigotry from a list of different segments of the population. Thirty-six percent of respondents chose white people. The next closest groups were African-Americans with 15%, Jews at 8%, Asian Americans and gay, lesbian and transgender people at 4% and Muslims at 2%.

Kint, the Crete homemaker who participated in the poll, attributed those results to the teaching of critical race theory, a concept built around the idea that racism isnt simply the result of personal prejudices but instead something long woven into the law. Several Republican-led states have taken steps to ban critical race theory teaching in public classrooms.

This critical race theory stuff is teaching people that white people are just automatically the bad guys, she said. I have three children. One of them one time came home from public schools, saying, White males are the bane of society or something like that. They teach that stuff in school. She didnt learn that from me.

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Most Illinois Republican voters dont believe Trump really lost in 2020 - Chicago Sun-Times

The truth is that Heritage and other Republican institutionsand leaders downplaying or reversing their stances on interventionism areresponding to other things besides economic priorities. Republicans areaccommodating themselves to realities overseas. Chinas rise the last twodecades while the United States was preoccupied with failed military adventuresin Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, alongside the hundreds of thousands ofAmerican veterans and contractors killed or wounded in the war on terrorallthis has helped turn the conservative base against once prominent notions aboutAmerican indispensability in world affairs. These developments,more than fiscal worries,are whatsdriving a foreign policy rethink among Republicans.Its about much more than that, says Trumps former Office of Management andBudget director Russ Vought, who heads a think tank called the Center forRenewing America.

Under Voughts leadership, the CRA campaigns to end endless wars, in those exactwords. Over the last several decades, the United States has abandoned aprincipled, clear-headed approach of realism and restraint to interventionism,reads the organizations website, using the type of language that used to bemarginal in the conservative moment and Republican Party. The CRA opposesexpanding NATO to include Finland and Sweden and rejects providing further aidto Ukraine. More ominously for progressives hoping to ally with conservatives skepticalof militarism, there is the whiff of nativism in the centers warning that Americas plan to accept refugees from Afghanistan means importinghundreds of thousands of people who do not share American cultural, political,or ideological commonalities [and] poses serious risks to both nationalsecurity and broader social cohesion.

Trump succeeded in making this combination of militaryprudence and xenophobia a permanent (for now, anyway) fixture of conservativepolitics, in ways that have yet to be fully incorporated by the RepublicanParty leadership. There is a movement to build on where the Trumppresidency was, says Vought. Trump remains deeply popular with GOP voters, and hisforeign policy worldview has been adopted by people like Tucker Carlson, theinfluential Fox News host who has called for President Joe Biden to push foran end to the war in Ukraine instead of single-handedly prolonging it.

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Theres a Big War Brewing Among Republicans Over Well, War - The New Republic

I think that would backfire on people, if they try to run for something that is not there yet, the House minority leader told POLITICO. McCarthy didnt speak specifically about Ferguson, currently the GOP deputy whip, but took a subtle jab when asked about the only whip contender actively seeking backers: I think what people want to see is people who are doing their job.

Vying privately for a leadership role before a midterm election amounts to the trickiest of tightrope walks in Congress. Members of both parties often do try to make early noise about leadership bids in private, but the appearance of premature campaigning if too overt risks attracting scrutiny or even blowback from colleagues.

Look, Im a former whip. And that job opened up after we won the election, McCarthy recalled. And I think one of the reasons why I was able to win the job as whip, only in my third term, was because we focused on winning the majority. And I think that is a greater attribute that people would look at.

Scalise offered a different view, citing various members who are already having conversations with people about what they would go for if Republicans win the majority this fall, as polling and historical trends indicate is highly likely. The Louisianan summed up his view as all about priorities: Winning the majority has to be the top of the list.

Among the Republicans already laying the groundwork for a whip bid, Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia is the only one openly seeking backers.|Alex Wong/Getty Images

When asked about Ferguson, Scalise cited his allys fundraising and travel on behalf of House Republicans before adding that the people that are putting in the work to help us win the majority are what our members are most concerned about. Drews been one of those leaders helping work hard to get us in the majority so that we can then worry about whos going to have which titles.

Scalise declined to say whether hes supporting Ferguson for whip in the next Congress, noting that hes going to wait until after the election to make a determination. But many House Republicans have read a series of recent developments as Scalise all but publicly throwing his support behind his chief deputy for the role.

Those moves include Ferguson hiring on two key staffers from Scalises office, which coincided with the Georgian taking over sending vote wrap-up emails to the conference that Scalises office previously handled. POLITICO first reported that Ferguson was the only candidate in the race asking colleagues for their support, including hosting dinners where he has laid out his vision for the role.

Ferguson, for his part, echoed Scalise that the conferences key focus is winning the majority.

Were going to stay focused on putting candidates and members in the best possible position to win so that we can have the largest majority possible going into the next session, said Ferguson. That is the prize that were fighting for. And we dont take our eyes off the prize.

Meanwhile, some House GOP hands recall that McCarthy and Scalise both followed a similar playbook to Fergusons. One former senior leadership aide, speaking candidly on condition of anonymity, said the current GOP leader and whip both positioned themselves before Election Day while running for whip.

There is precedent for what Drew is doing, the aide added.

But behind the scenes, Ferguson already has formidable potential competition.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), chair of the Republican Study Committee, is having exploratory conversations with members about the potential of jumping into the race. Asked if he is running for the whip role, Banks replied: Right now, we ought to be focused on winning back the majority and Ill be looking at where I fit in.

National Republican Committee Chair Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is also viewed as a likely candidate for whip after a GOP takeover, even though he has not started to have such conversations. Doing so would break from the core message the House GOPs campaign chief sent to members: that their attention should stay on winning in November.

And Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the current conference chair, could still pursue the whips spot, though its unclear whether she has redirected her future ambitions to another senior position. Despite some colleagues previously seeing signs of her gearing up for a run for the No. 3 role, the Washington Examiner has reported that shes preparing to step back from a whip run.

Other Republicans now forecast a return to her earlier interest in the Education and Labor Committee chairmanship, which would keep Stefaniks options open if a top contender stumbles after the midterms in other higher-ranked leadership races.

Stefaniks office has repeatedly dismissed questions about her future ambitions, saying she is solely focused on her role as the House GOP messaging chief.

Broadly speaking, the dynamics of the whip race changed significantly after Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) announced earlier this year that he plans not to seek the role in the next Congress, choosing to instead remain on the Financial Services Committee. And despite McCarthys views on early campaigning, Ferguson and potentially Banks will be able to spend months building support in the leadup to the election while Emmer will be hamstrung by November.

But if the two-term NRCC chair can take credit for a sizable majority heading into the new Congress, he could earn a heap of member goodwill and cash in with a run.

That would mark a turnabout from 2010, when then-NRCC chair Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) was interested in becoming whip after leading Republicans back into the majority but ended up losing to McCarthy who had started campaigning earlier.

Sessions said he recalled McCarthy asking members for support, an easier feat for the Californian since, unlike Sessions, he wasnt hamstrung by a different leadership position at the time.

I needed to keep my focus instead of asking people, which puts them in a difficult position. So I chose to wait, Sessions recalled.

Continued here:
McCarthy issues warning to Republicans openly vying for whip - POLITICO

If Republicans take back some control of Congress in Novembers midterm elections, what could a divided Washington end up delivering?

GOP and Democratic politicians may feel like they have to do something about inflation, so you might see a move to suspend or reduce the federal gas tax, said Yuval Levin, an expert at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

The White House previously has said that a gasoline RB00, -1.66% tax holiday is an option under consideration as the Biden administration seeks to give Americans relief from high prices, though analysts have cautioned that monkeying with that tax would take away funds that were supposed to be needed for major infrastructure PAVE, -3.30% projects.

The annual rate ofinflation rose to 8.6% in May, topping forecasts and marking a fresh 40-year high. High gasoline and food prices as well as rising rents helped drive up the latest reading for the consumer price index, or CPI.

There may be room for compromise on family policy, Levin also said, with his remarks coming Monday during a Bipartisan Policy Center event titled Previewing a Potential Republican Congress.

GOP Sen. Mitt Romneys child benefit proposal won some support from Democrats as well as from Republicans, and I think it might be an area where you could think about a reform or transformation of the child tax credit along the lines that he proposed.

The Biden White House in December expressed openness to working with Romney on child tax credit payments, as the Utah lawmaker called for a bipartisan approach on the issue. Romney has proposed a program similar to the monthly CTC payouts that ended last year due toopposition from Democratic Sen. Joe Manchinof West Virginia, who criticized other parts of President Joe Bidens Build Back Better plan as well.

Levin noted the bipartisan deal on new gun-safety measures that was reached over the weekend involves empowering local and state authorities, and that type of approach could get further traction after the midterm elections.

On crime, we may see some action, because crime is an area where again its possible to operate by empowering local authorities and giving them options, and it may be that theres room for compromise there, said Levin, whose title at AEI is director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies and Beth and Ravenel Curry chair in public policy.

And actually President Biden has real experience on that front as a legislator himself in advancing ideas that did win a lot of Republican support in the 1990s.

To be sure, Levin said its tough to predict what a divided Washington could accomplish and he sees a strong likelihood of little action next year as both parties start to focus on the 2024 presidential election.

Youre also going to see a lot of posturing and a lot of messaging bills where Republicans just try to put Democrats in a tough place looking to 2024. Its hard to avoid thinking that thats a lot of what a Republican Congress would end up doing, he said.

Republicans are widely expected to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections, and the GOP is getting good odds for taking back the 50-50 Senate, too.

See: Republicans may win not just House but also Senate in midterm elections here are 2022s Senate races to watch

And read: Biden talks up his efforts to tame high prices, as analysts see rough midterm elections for him unless inflation abates

U.S. stocks SPX, -3.12% DJIA, -2.26% traded sharply lower Monday as financial markets continued to reel from a surprise acceleration in inflation just days ahead of a Federal Reserve interest-rate decision.

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If Republicans win in midterm elections, watch for action on gas tax holiday, child tax credit and crime, expert says - MarketWatch

Las Vegas Republicans will decide on Tuesday which of three candidates with three distinct profiles will go on to the general election in Nevadas newly competitive Las Vegas-area 1st Congressional District.

Leading the Republican field are Carolina Serrano, a former organizer for Latinos for Trump who has promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot; Mark Robertson, a 30-year military veteran; and David Brog, the CEO of the Maccabee Task Force and former head of Christians United for Israel, who associates himself with the populist National Conservatism movement.

Serrano told Jewish Insider that she was largely disconnected from politics until former President Donald Trumps entry into politics, when she found herself attracted to him because he championed American citizens in a way that politicians really hadnt before. She went on to intern for Rep. John Katko (R-NY) and worked briefly as a field organizer for the Republican National Committee in Nevada.

Its important to take the [Republican] message out to more people. Specifically, Im Hispanic I really realized were kind of all voting against our own interests because my values align more with the Republican Party, she said. And thats the mission that I had.

Serrano said she now has no thoughts towards Katko, who voted to impeach Trump following the events of Jan. 6, describing him and his office as very nice.

I think what [the internship] opened my eyes to is [that] personnel is policy, she said.

Serrano said shes focused on two issues she sees as obviously tied together: undocumented immigration and inflation.

Robertson, who retired as a colonel after three decades in the military, was deployed to 10 countries, including to Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq and Syria. He said he joined the race after Democrats gained a trifecta in Washington in 2021 taking the White House and both chambers of Congress as well as control in Nevadas capital. I dont like the direction of our country [this] headlong dive into socialism that the Democrats are taking us, he explained.

Robertson also called immigration and inflation his top issues, and blamed government spending,which he pledged to reduce,and paying people not to work for current inflation rates.

Brog, who currently leads the Maccabee Task Force, a nonprofit funded largely by the late Las Vegas billionaire and GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson that combats campus antisemitism, called his congressional run a continuation of the last few decades of fighting the woke left, a distillation of the message he expressed to JI in an interview earlier this year.

Brog said his longtime advocacy work on key policy priorities makes him the best candidate for the district.

I was there that day that critical race theory sort of had its coming out party when [former President] Barack Obama introduced professor Derrick Bell at a rally and Derrick Bell said he was leaving his tenured position, Brog told JI last week. That was an awakening for me. And in various roles and capacities Ive been fighting wokeism ever since then.

Brog, who once served as a staffer for former Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), also frames himself as having been in the vanguard of the Republican Party in seeking to protect American industries and the working class from competition abroad.

I was ridiculed at the time, I was [an] outcast. At the time, we were RINOs [Republicans in Name Only], squishes because we went against the free-market orthodoxy of the day, Brog said, which he said was his impetus for shifting his focus to pro-Israel advocacy.

Of the three candidates, Brog is the newest to the district, having moved to Nevada to lead the Maccabee Task Force, which was founded in 2015. He argued that voters care more about the depth of dedication to their conservative values where he said he has the tenure that matters most.

Robertson touted his deep ties to the community, having raised his family in the community for 30 years. He also argued that his decades of military service at home and abroad including a stint at the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy and time spent teaching finance at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, make him a strong candidate for the seat.

Serrano sought to claim the mantle of being the most pro-Trump candidate in the field, pointing to her work to support his 2020 reelection campaign. She touted her experience with Latino outreach, which she said contributed to the record-high Latino voter turnout for the GOP in the state. Trump has not endorsed anyone in the race.

I was the first one to see the weakness in Dina Titus and the disconnect between her and that district, Serrano said, referencing her field work for Trump in 2020. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) has represented the district since 2013, and served one term in another district from 2009 to 2011.

And Serrano said shes the only candidate who has visited the southern border and is taking [border security] seriously, as well as the only one talking about election integrity, who worked on efforts to re-litigate the 2020 presidential election results.

Serrano claims to have discovered a fraudulent mail-in ballot submitted in a family members name during her post-election work, and said that state officials ignored concerns raised about tens of thousands of ballots. She further claimed she saw and heard from other observers about ballot counting irregularities at polling places which state officials attributed to technical issues across the state.

She has also referred to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as a fedsurrection, promoting discredited conspiracy theories claiming the riot was instigated by federal agents, and called to dissolve the FBI and Justice Department. Asked about these claims, Serrano urged JI to read Revolver News, a far-right website that has helped spread Jan. 6 conspiracy theories and is run by former White House staffer Darren Beattie, who was fired by the Trump administration after appearing on a panel at a conference attended by white nationalists.

Robertson said unequivocally that he believes that President Joe Biden is the rightfully elected president. He said he could not answer whether he would have voted in favor of certifying contested election results in 2020 because he had not seen the evidence presented on the issue.

Humberto Sanchez, a reporter for The Nevada Independent, told JI the race is pretty wide open right now.

I think that anything happening now, between now and Tuesday, could move it in any of those three directions, Sanchez said late last week. I really think its a three-way race at the top right now.

Serrano led the field in fundraising as of May 25, having brought in $568,000, trailed closely by Robertson at $543,000, with Brog in third at $381,000. Serrano is also on top in total cash on hand as of the end of the filing period with $208,000 although she reported $116,000 in campaign debts, followed by Brog with $174,000 and $50,000 in debt, and Robertson with $130,000 on hand.

Brog noted to JI that he is the only candidate currently running a television advertisement. He has also been endorsed by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Although the bulk of the funding for the Maccabee Task Force has come from the Adelson family, GOP megadonorMiriam Adelson has not donated to Brogs campaign, according to FEC filings. A super PAC called the Nevada 1st PAC has spent $23,500 supporting Brogs campaign, but it is unclear who is funding that effort.

Nevada 1st PACs listed treasurer is affiliated with several other PACs in other states with which it shares the same address that of a shipping store in Alexandria, Va. The PAC appears to be linked to the campaign of fringe gubernatorial candidate Fred Simon, according to The Nevada Independent, and also hosted a conference featuring Simon and COVID-19 conspiracy theorists.

The district is a prime target for Republicans this year, having been redistricted from a reliably Democratic seat to one The Cook Political Report rates as a Toss Up, in an effort to shore up more vulnerable Democratic districts. The district, previously concentrated in the heart of Las Vegas, now includes more suburban and rural outlying areas that trend more conservative.

In a normal year you would expect a Democrat to win, particularly an incumbent, Dan Lee, a political science professor at UNLV, told JI. But, Lee noted, this is a highly favorable environment for Republicans and a lot of these voters dont know [Titus] she wont have as much of that incumbency advantage as she would normally have.

Titus will also have to survive a primary challenge on Tuesday from progressive organizer and Democratic Socialists of America member Amy Vilela. In an endorsement questionnaire for the local DSA, Vilela expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. She was endorsed on Thursday by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on whose 2020 presidential campaign she worked.

Sanchez described Titus as the odds-on favorite to win the primary and said Vilela has not really seen much momentum.

Vilela has run for the House once before, in 2018, finishing in third with 9% of the vote in the Democratic primary in a different Nevada district. She has raised $490,000, but spent nearly all of it in the primary, with just $53,373 remaining on hand at the end of the quarter and $53,009 in campaign debts. Titus has $1.28 million remaining on hand heading into the general election, but has been outspent by Vilela, $437,000 to $329,000.

Sanchez noted that with his long career in pro-Israel activism Brog has also been playing up his pro-Israel bonafides in the race.

Robertson, who is a graduate of Brigham Young University, a Mormon institution, and described himself as a devout Christian, also characterized himself as a very supportive of Israel, noting that hes also a member of the Republican Jewish Coalitions leadership council.

Judeo-Christian values are an important part of what makes the United States the great country that it is, Robertson said. And I think Israel being the lone democracy in the Middle East, that we have much in common with Israel and it is in Americas national interests to [continue] supporting Israel.

He traveled to Israel in 2017 and said he was amazed to see Israelis and Palestinians working side-by-side and living together in Jerusalem. Robertson added, however, that there cannot be a political settlement as long as the Palestinian leadership denies Israels right to exist.

The United States needs to make it clear to the Palestinian thats a non-starter, that we support Israel, he said.

Robertson continued, Im supportive of Israel and if Israel determines that a two-state solution is in their interest, I would support that but its got to be one that ends the violence. He also questioned why neighboring Arab states are not offering the territory for a Palestinian homeland.

Serrano expressed little interest in discussing foreign policy.

Im more focused on domestic issues. Obviously, Israels a great ally of the United States and I respect and support that, she said. And I just dont really have many thoughts beyond that.

Robertson called the 2015 Iran nuclear deal a huge mistake and said Trump was correct to withdraw from it and reimpose sanctions.

The crippling sanctions we had before Obama removed them are making a huge impact, Robertson said. He said the sanctions have not seen similar effects since the Trump administration reimposed them because other countries have not followed suit.

He said there ought to be a strong effort to work with other countries to reimpose sanctions, but acknowledged that itd be impossible to get Russia on board.

Robertson speculated that, within the United States, overall increases in crime rates which he blamed on the defund the police movement and the installation of liberal prosecutors who let violent criminals out could be linked to the rise in antisemitic incidents, but said he was not well-versed on the issue.

Serrano said she does not see any way that Congress or the federal government can curb recent increases in antisemitic activity, pinning the blame on the media.

Theres not a law that we can pass to make people, you know, do or or behave a certain way, she said. I do think that the media plays a big part in fanning flames I think that the media has a responsibility in the way that they present stories and the way that they speak about certain things.

Both Serrano and Robertson said they didnt see antisemitism as an issue in their party.

Looking toward November, The Nevada Independents Sanchez said, Its going to be a challenge but [Titus] seems up to it, adding, however, it [will] also depend on who the Republican is. Independents the fastest-growing group in Nevada are set to play an important role, he said.

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All bets are off in the Republican congressional primary in Las Vegas - Jewish Insider