Adelsons Deny Pushing Las Vegas Poll Switch
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has denied involvement in the decision to hold a special Republican caucus in a Nevada county to accommodate Sabbath-observant Jewish voters.
Clark County last week moved its Feb. 4 caucus to 7 p.m., six hours after the state’s totals are scheduled to be reported. Among the county’s voters is Adelson, who with his wife recently donated $10 million to a super PAC formed to help GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.
“In short, they had no involvement,” Adelson spokesman Ron Reese said of Sheldon and Miriam Adelson in a note to reporters Monday evening.
“For the record, Mr. and Dr. Adelson are not Orthodox, thus they could participate in the caucus regardless of time or location,” the spokesman added.
The special caucus was added after a member of the Orthodox community complained that he would not be able to participate in the caucus since it conflicted with Shabbat, CNN reported.
The caucus will be held at the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus, an Adelson-funded private school in Las Vegas.
More than half the state’s Republican voters live in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
Some 500 Republican voters are expected to attend the additional caucus. An absentee balloting system is in place for Nevada caucuses, according to Politico.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30