opinion

NARAL backs Rosen over Heller in Senate race: Mello Roberson

As the new year begins, Dean Heller knows he’s on the chopping block in the 2018 election.

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Popular opinion is turning against him as his brand of right-wing politics has grown increasingly out of touch with the values of Nevada families. Yet in a desperate attempt to save his political career, Heller has doubled-down on his strategy to court his fringe base while turning his back on Nevada’s women and families. It may be a new year, but it’s only a matter of time before Heller is back to his same far-right tricks instead of supporting everyday Nevada values.

As a senator, Heller worked to oppose women’s health care and access to abortion. This is just one instance of many where Heller aligned himself with Donald Trump and the out-of-touch GOP leadership to advance his political career. In fact, Heller has voted in line with Trump’s position over 90 percent of the time, no matter the devastating consequences for the Silver State.

Now, as right-wing Republicans lose in states across the country, Heller is moving even further to the right in a desperate attempt to energize his base voters and save his seat. This fits a sad pattern whereby Heller repeatedly has shown more concern for his own re-election prospects than for the hardworking Nevadans he was elected to represent.

Heller’s attempts to associate himself with the far-right GOP couldn’t be more obvious. This past month, Heller even joined Trump to celebrate the passage of the GOP tax plan that will harm the hardworking families of Nevada. Of course, the GOP tax plan also included a provision that severely weakens the Affordable Care Act, jeopardizing the health care of millions of people all across the country, including right here in Nevada.

Heller’s prioritization of the devastating tax plan also comes at a time when states across the country are running out of funding for children's health insurance. This threatens to affect more than 40,000 children in Nevada who depend on this assistance for life saving health care. Yet, instead of addressing this looming humanitarian disaster, Heller and national GOP leaders prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy while the health care of thousands of Nevada’s low-income children, women, and families hung in the balance.

Heller is no mere bystander in this scheme, and repeatedly has reminded us that he was one of the architects of this dangerous tax plan. Heller’s central role in the GOP’s latest plot to take away our health care cemented his reputation as someone who will throw women and families under the bus for his own political gain.

Of course, Heller’s shameless opportunism doesn’t stop at taking away our health care. Heller has pushed Trump’s judicial picks as a way to play to the far-right fringe base that will decide his primary and be crucial to his reelection. Now, Heller is doubling-down on Trump’s scheme to reshape the federal court system for decades to come.

Heller even conducted an ad campaign calling on the Senate to remain open 24/7 in order to confirm Trump’s anti-choice judicial nominations. Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are actively stacking federal courts across the country against women and families, by appointing anti-choice, extreme judges to the bench — and Heller is right behind them.

These nominees for lifetime appointments will have huge influence over this nation for generations to come, and will shape our country in Donald Trump’s dangerous, out-of-touch image. While Donald Trump and the GOP know that they can use the courts to enforce their backwards social agenda, Dean Heller is not only being complicit, but encouraging the Senate to speed the process up.

As NARAL Nevada and its members continue to call out Heller’s shameless attacks on our reproductive rights, we know this is nothing new for Dean Heller. When it matters most, Heller continuously chooses to stand with Donald Trump instead of Nevada families. Heller has let us down again and again, and we can’t count on him.

Women and families across the Silver State deserve a champion who will fight for them in Washington — not eagerly take away their rights to gain political power. That’s why NARAL members are excited to support Jacky Rosen in her campaign for U.S. Senate. Rosen is a true champion for women and families, a proven leader in the community, and an independent voice for Nevada. As long as Heller continues to throw our reproductive rights under the bus, NARAL and its members will continue mobilizing and organizing to hold him accountable and support true champions like Rosen instead.

Caroline Mello Roberson is state director of NARAL Pro-Choice Nevada.