Nevada Republicans voted Saturday afternoon at its central committee meeting in Winnemucca to officially hold a presidential caucus in 2024.
The caucus received overwhelming support, Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday.
At its meeting Saturday — which media outlets were not allowed to attend — Nevada Republican Central Committee members worked through the details of the caucus, which will take place Feb. 8, 2024, two days after the state-operated presidential primary election.
The Silver State joins Iowa in the list of early Republican states that will hold a caucus, but is the only one among those scheduled to hold both a caucus and a primary. The Republican National Committee’s other early states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, will hold a state-run primary.
Presidential candidates cannot sign up for the state-run election or else they won’t qualify for the caucus. Delegates will only be given to candidates who sign up for the caucus, which will cost them $55,000, or $35,000 if the candidate agrees to do an event with the Nevada GOP.
So far only presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has signed up and paid the full $55,000, McDonald said, but he expects others to join soon. The Review-Journal reached out to the campaigns of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence and Tim Scott about which election they plan on participating in, but did not receive a response.
Caucus participants will cast a presidential preference poll vote. Results will be tabulated by precinct and finalized and released to the public that day, according to the Nevada Republican Party’s plans.
Precincts will nominate delegates, and in May, Republicans at the state convention will elect national delegates who will go to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July 2024.
The caucus has received some pushback from some Republicans who worry it will be confusing to voters when Nevada holds its own presidential primary election on Feb. 6.
Ahead of the Saturday meeting, David Gibbs, president of the Nevada Republican Club, and its leaders sent a letter to county party chairs urging them to vote against a resolution that would have amended the state party’s bylaws in order to hold the caucus.
He argued it will be confusing for the average voter, who will receive a mail ballot from the secretary of state for the primary and be confused as to why their favorite candidate isn’t there.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com.
