Nevada: Now it's the 'People's Truck!'

Picture this, a 40 year old guy who rides motocross on the weekends with his kids, loves rock music, hangs out with the Romney sons, speaks fluent Spanish, votes as a rock solid conservative in the Nevada Legislature and is now running for the US Senate to take on Harry Reid.

Meet the future of the Republican Party.

For years the Republican Party has said it needs to change, become more “real”, more “hip”—while sticking strong to its solid conservative roots. If Republicans want that change to happen, they need to find the right candidates to make it happen.

The US Senate race in Nevada has found such a candidate. Chad Christensen. For 8 years Chad has served in the Nevada State Legislature and he has a voting record that is as conservative as it gets. If you haven’t heard of Chad it’s because he entered this race after he saw that the other candidates either had no record to speak of, didn’t win elections, or they just were not connecting with Nevada voters. There’s something to be said for a fresh face in this race.

Oh, and he drives a truck. A “Dump Reid, Vote Chad Dump Truck.”

This past weekend Christensen drove the truck through rural Nevada connecting with voters. On Sunday I traveled with him as he took it to a motocross race in Northern Nevada (land use is sort of a big deal in this state, and Chad is pushing this issue hard) and as you can imagine, it was a big hit. Harry Reid doesn’t quite cut it in these parts.

Chad says the Dump Reid Truck is a “work truck” and he also calls it the “people’s truck,” and he allows Nevadan’s to step up and sign the panels on the side and work together to “dump Reid.”

Chad also says the truck “means business.” Apparently, he does too. Christensen has never lost an election and has served 4 consecutive terms in the Nevada State Legislature (hey, wasn’t Scott Brown also a state legislator and drove a truck?). In 2008 Nevada and the nation took an old fashioned whuppin’ when the Obama Wave wiped out Republicans everywhere. It was not pretty. The Nevada State Party took a bath and was virtually destroyed by that Wave. Christensen still won his district, the largest in the state and one that Obama won by 10 points over McCain. How many conservative Republicans do you know who won in 2008 in a large, Democratic district? You know one now.

Christensen is using his undefeated record in elections and his conservative voting “chops” as an argument to make him the best candidate to take on Reid and to replace him with somebody who will not turn RINO. Chad entered this race a little over a month ago and has already jumped into the top 4 (there are 12 Republicans in this race) and is climbing fast.

The “Dump Reid, Vote Chad Truck” is a new addition to the campaign and it is getting a lot of attention in a hurry. Nevadan’s honk, cheer and wave as it goes down the street. It poses for more pictures than Pamela Anderson during a weekend at the Hard Rock. Throughout rural Nevada it may be the biggest thing to hit town since the silver boom a century and a half ago. It now has its own Facebook page and has a schedule at events throughout Nevada that is filling up quickly.

Since Christensen is an established political figure in Nevada and has a long time current conservative voting record in Nevada (he voted again in February to not increase taxes as he has done every time in the legislature), the “Dump Reid, Vote Chad Truck” is a perfect fit. Plus, there’s plenty of room in the back for the dirt bikes.

The future of the Republican Party is now.