Dean Heller loses primary challenger after Trump urges Tarkanian to run for House instead

Eliza Collins | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Dean Heller's life just got easier.

Danny Tarkanian, who said he planned to challenge the Nevada senator in the Republican primary, told the USA TODAY Network Friday that President Trump last week requested he jump out of what was expected to be a hard-fought GOP primary race with Sen. Heller. Trump asked him to instead pursue the House seat left open by Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. — who has filed to run against Heller for his Senate seat.

"I am confident I would have won the U.S. Senate race and done a great job representing the people of Nevada in the Senate, but the president is adamant that a unified Republican ticket in Nevada is the best direction for the America First movement," Tarkanian said in a statement announcing his candidacy for the now-open House seat. Nevada's filing deadline is Friday.

Shortly before Tarkanian's official announcement, Trump tweeted his approval of the plan.

"It would be great for the Republican Party of Nevada, and it’s unity if good guy Danny Tarkanian would run for Congress and Dean Heller, who is doing a really good job, could run for Senate unopposed!" Trump said.

It would be great for the Republican Party of Nevada, and it’s unity if good guy Danny Tarkanian would run for Congress and Dean Heller, who is doing a really good job, could run for Senate unopposed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2018

“I appreciate President Trump’s support and kind words. We’ve accomplished a lot in the last year ... The President’s pro-growth agenda is already showing results in Nevada,” Heller said later Friday.

Tarkanian lost his race for Nevada's 3rd district in 2016 by just 1 point.

Heller is considered to be the most vulnerable Republican up for re-election in 2018. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Nevada, and the state also elected the state’s first female and America’s first Latina senator.

But Heller was expected to have to go through a bruising GOP primary before the general election against Rosen. Primaries tend to pull candidates to the extremes of their party, which would have meant Heller, who has served in the Senate since 2011, would need to shift back to the center to try and win the purple state.

Tarkanian had run his Senate bid as part of the anti-establishment, pro-Trump wing of the Republican party.

Trump's endorsement of Heller comes despite a rocky history between the two. Last summer, Heller publicly waffled on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the president warned that he could lose his seat. Heller ultimately voted to repeal the health care law.

Democrats were quick to attack all Republicans involved in what they said was a "backroom deal."

“Senator Heller spent the last eight months falling in line with President Trump, and this backroom deal is his special reward for caving to the White House’s pressure on health care," Rosen said.

Drew Godinich spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats' campaign arm, hit Tarkanian for his record of running unsuccessfully for elected office.

“Tarkanian is so desperate to get elected to literally anything that he’s allowed Donald Trump and Dean Heller to buy off what little integrity he had to begin with," Godinich said.

Contributing: James DeHaven for the Reno Gazette-Journal

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