Nevada Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature, dominate the congressional delegation, and hold more than their share of elected offices in the two most populated counties.

With all that success and the Legislature in session, it’s a particularly imprudent time to start pulling pranks, hurling insults and spraying metaphorical graffiti inside the state party. Given so much political abundance and the Republicans still aching from a Trumpian hangover, it’s like watching a quarreling family start a food fight at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But that’s what has happened in the wake of the decision by the current leadership of the Nevada State Democratic Party to remove more than 230 members from its central committee roster just weeks before its schedule March 4 election of new officers. For conspiracy theorists and those who just like a good laugh, the list of those dumped for a lack of attendance includes Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, state Sen. Rochelle Thuy Nguyen, and even the unabashedly loud-and-proud liberal Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom.

Tick Segerblom kicked off the central committee?

The purge followed the Feb. 7 announcement of a challenge to Whitmer by Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, who leads what has been dubbed the Nevada Democratic Unity Slate. Unity, in this case, is a relative term.

Perhaps the “Anyone but Whitmer Slate” logo was already taken.

Howls have echoed throughout the party from longtime members and union heavyweights following Whitmer’s move. Calls for her to rescind or resign followed as the party, which publicly has shown plenty of unity, aired its grievances on social media and in blistering press statements.

Call them overblown and even overwrought, but in recent years this kind of schoolyard shoving match usually has been the specialty of craven state Republican Party officials.

A particularly prickly zinger came from 60,000-member Culinary Union Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge. The local’s political director Paul Catha was among those deleted from the central committee.

“It’s unclear if NV DEMS purging of the rolls is an attempt to disenfranchise voters or just plain incompetence, either way, their actions are unacceptable and Nevadans deserve better,” Pappageorge said. “The party of working people must not take actions that would further discourage working people from getting involved in the political process and they must not (as the NV DEMS are doing now) continued to put up obstacles for workers who want to participate in democracy.”

Another substantial labor organization, AFSCME Local 4041, has also endorsed the challengers for state party leadership.

The central committee snafu was, at the very least, tone deaf. Deleting Nevada’s most visible Lefty and ticking off the Assembly Speaker during a legislative session was bound to make headlines. Getting on the bad side of the leader of the biggest and most active friend of the Democrats from organized labor was what is known as asking for it.

The criticism of Whitmer is heated, but nothing new. The Democratic Socialists of America member’s March 2021 election over Segerblom quickly generated complaints from the political mechanics in Nevada’s vaunted “Reid Machine” and a host of party loyalists. She has been hit for failing to mend fences and move the state party not just to the left, but also forward. The Democratic Unity Slate, meanwhile, is promising superior fundraising as well as “restoring trust, organizing year-round, and electing Democrats.”

Not surprisingly, Whitmer doesn’t see it that way. In a swift response to the blowback from the central committee dustup, she fought back gamely. In part:

“To ensure compliance with our party’s bylaws, the State Central Committee roster is routinely updated to remove individuals who’ve failed to maintain their membership. We were disappointed to learn that this essential responsibility is being misrepresented as a targeted removal.”

Reminding her detractors that she’s not planning to step aside, she took the unprecedented step of making public the central committee’s 2022-2024 attendance records.

But talk about a tough grader.

After clearing the acrimonious smoke, her gotcha move is pretty standard stuff in a party with a colorful history that historically has included shouting matches, fisticuffs, and locking the doors of the meeting to dissuade participation.

Ideological schisms between far-left, left, middle and, yes, even conservative factions are nothing new for Nevada Democrats. Struggles for the heart and head of the party have gone on for decades.

The same party that can proudly say it is responsible for electing a female-majority state Legislature that includes an unprecedented number of lawmakers of color in its ranks, is the same outfit that failed to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and repeatedly elected Rep. Walter Baring, who should be remembered for voting against the Civil Rights Act.

And don’t get me started on Pat McCarran.

Whitmer’s Wobblies’ days may be numbered. We’ll see soon enough. Frankly, given the national political forces’ interest in Nevada, I’m not even sure how much this food fight will matter in the end.

What will remain is the more important challenge of continuing to knit together a party that proudly and successfully embraces the state’s increasingly diverse demographics and also gets things done for people.

At the very least, the state Democrats’ brouhaha is a reminder that the state’s Republicans aren’t Nevada’s only dysfunctional family.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.