An ad airing only in the Reno market from a group focused on holding the Senate Republican majority and pummeling Democratic Senate candidate Jacky Rosen seems to tap into the rivalry between rural Northern Nevada and the urban South.

Released last week by the Senate Leadership Fund, which has ties to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the ad begins with a reference to “Vegas Congresswoman Jacky Rosen,” which analysts see as an effort to signal that someone with ties to Southern Nevada is an interloper in the north.

“I think it’s intended to really play to a northern and particularly rural audience,” said Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno. “I’m sure they would deny that there is any put down of Vegas, but I would disagree.”

The group has released other ads that also mention Vegas or Las Vegas in similar contexts.

Clark County, in Nevada’s southern tip, is the populous part of the state, home to Las Vegas and almost 2.1 million people out of a total population of about 2.8 million, according to the latest Census Department data. That leaves about 700,000 people in the more rural areas to the north of the state’s triangular tip — making them an important target for Republicans, who typically do better with rural voters.

Senate Leadership Fund Spokesman Chris Pack denied that the ad does anything more than identify Rosen, though her congressional district includes only a small part of Las Vegas.

“No, it isn’t,” Pack said when asked over email if the ad was an effort to play on the state's North-South divide. “It states a fact. She’s a congresswoman from Vegas.”

David Damore, chair of the political science department at UNLV, said that with Rosen, who is new to politics and not well-known outside of her district, the ad is an opportunity to paint her as unfriendly to northern values.

“This is a way they that can brand her as not being from ‘these parts,’” Damore said.

Herzik said that the term ‘Vegas’ is often used as a catchall to cover Clark County, which is more liberal, more Democratic and perceived as a corrupt and powerful rival to the state capital in Carson City.

He added that other Nevada Republicans have also trafficked in the North-South split, including Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who is running for governor against Democratic candidate Steve Sisolak.

Herzik cited Laxalt’s Basque Fry last week where conservatives came together to rally their supporters at an event whose headliners included White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association. “There was a clear discussion that Las Vegas is full of corruption and it’s stealing from the North,” Herzik said, adding that those attacks have been directed at Rosen and Sisolak.

A Laxalt ad attacking Sisolak, entitled Friends, begins with “Las Vegas is a city of light, but for some, there is a darkness.”

One way the divide manifests itself is in stump speeches that implies the southern part of the state is turning into a version of California — essentially defining Clark County as a liberal bogeystate.

“That’s part of the Republicans game plan for this election,” Herzik said. “‘We don’t want California progressives infecting our state.’ That is a standard trope for Laxalt speeches.”

Damore said that Republicans are trying to portray Clark County as California in miniature, with a population that is nearly one-third Hispanic that represents a threat to the North.

“Clark County is what you need to fear; it looks a whole lot like California,” Damore said, adding that another tension between North and South is demographic, with the South being more ethnically diverse. “We are a majority-minority state, but that’s just because of Clark County.”

Herzik believes that the current cycle has yielded the most North-South divide campaigning in about 10 years. He was skeptical that the GOP would be successful with the tactic, including in Washoe County, the rapidly gentrifying, second-most populous county in the state.

“I find it interesting,” Herzik said. “I think the Republican strategy is ignoring the largest part of the state and they’re pandering to the rurals. They are going to win the rurals anyway.”

Laxalt was elected in 2014 without winning Clark and Washoe counties, but to repeat that feat at a time when Democrats are energized to check the power of President Donald Trump could be difficult.

“He was the first guy since the Great Depression to win the state without carrying Washoe or Clark,” Damore said. “That’s really tough to do.”

The North-South split can be traced back to Nevada’s early history, Damore said. There is a sense that Northern Nevada is ‘real’ Nevada. The southern triangle, which includes Clark County, at the bottom of the state was added soon after the state was admitted to the union in 1864.

“It used to go straight across,” Damore said of the southern boundary, adding that “all of that stuff plays into” the divide.

Rosen is running against Republican Sen. Dean Heller in a race that is expected to be decided by only a couple of percentage points. The GOP is counting on Heller to help them maintain their razor-thin 51 to 49 majority in the Senate. 

Disclosure: Steve Sisolak has donated to The Nevada Independent. You can see a full list of donors here.