If nothing else, at least contentious primary contests show us what politicians think of their own voters.

Closed primaries have always proved somewhat tricky for politicians in swing states, as they must carefully cater to the concerns of their own party while trying to maintain the independence needed to win support among a more mixed, moderate and diverse general electorate. 

It's a balancing act not every candidate is capable of achieving, as evidenced by recent elections where some horrendously ill-suited candidates have emerged from partisan primaries across the country. 

Such results, however, aren't necessarily guaranteed. Plenty of research has concluded that primary voters aren't inherently different from their general election counterparts, meaning totally winnable candidates can still emerge from any given contest, regardless of how extreme the base of any given party has become. 

Nonetheless, there are always candidates willing to pander to their party's fringe to get past the primary, even if that means sacrificing their future electability in the general. And this year is no exception. 

For example, it didn't take long for one candidate in the GOP primary battle for the 2nd Congressional District to indulge the xenophobic tendencies of the Republican Party's MAGA base to gain a little attention for himself. Echoing the accusations of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former head of Border Patrol Greg Bovino, retired Lt. Col. David Flippo has attacked former state Sen. James Settelmeyer (R-Minden) for voting to allow "driver's licenses for illegal immigrants." 

In the mind of Flippo and the right's most extreme anti-immigrant activists, such a vote should be an immediate disqualification for elected office. 

Of course, as Settelmeyer himself explained, there was nothing particularly controversial about the vote in question — even for a party that has taken a hard-line stance against illegal immigration. The bill was signed by a Republican governor and enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support in the Legislature. Far from being an ostensible capitulation to the far left, Settelmeyer's vote was a commonsense attempt to bolster safety on Nevada roadways by ensuring those behind the wheel are actually licensed to operate a motor vehicle. 

But it's not just the 2nd Congressional District where political infighting has devolved into cartoonish pandering to partisan prejudices. In the race for the Clark County Commission District F seat, Republican Heidi Kasama has launched relentless attacks against her challenger, businessman Albert Mack, for having previously donated to Democratic candidates. Gasp! 

Her campaign has even gone so far as to post an artificial intelligence-altered image of Mack wearing an "I'm With Her" Hillary Clinton T-shirt on X. 

The attack is not surprising, but it does raise some intellectual questions if prior support for Democrats is truly an unforgivable transgression in the modern Republican Party. After all, even the vaunted Ronald Reagan aligned with Democrats throughout much of his early life. 

President Donald Trump, who today represents the far-right extremism of the modern GOP, was also once a regular supporter of Democratic candidates — including Hillary Clinton. In fact, there's no need for anyone to create an AI-generated image of Trump wearing a Hillary tee to illustrate his past support, because there are already plenty of authentic photographs of him literally standing "with her" in the years prior to his 2016 presidential run. 

In other races, even being a lifelong Republican might not be enough to escape the attacks on one's partisan loyalty. 

In Nevada's primary race for attorney general, for example, fealty to Trump has become a central point of contention between the Republican candidates. It's an interesting dynamic for a statewide race, considering whichever candidate wins the primary would theoretically be wise to distance themselves from such an unpopular president in what will surely be a grueling midterm election cycle. 

After all, while Trump won Nevada in 2024, it's not as if our state has morphed into some deep red bastion of MAGA supporters. We remain a highly swingy state with a plurality of active voters registered as nonpartisan and a large contingent of the electorate willing to split tickets between the two parties. That's a voter mindset that probably doesn't bode well for candidates who are too closely aligned with a president who has been underwater in the polls for most of his first year back in office. 

However, in today's GOP, adoration for Trump has proven to be the only thing that some primary voters seem to care about. Attempts by candidates to outflank each other to their party's fringe, therefore, would seem to make sense in purely survivalist terms. 

In most normal election years, the vast majority of voters (roughly 80 percent) simply don't cast ballots in primary elections. As one researcher pointed out, most voters view primary races as too low-stakes to put in the effort — meaning the voters who generally show up for such contests are more politically active and partisan. 

In such an environment, it's not outlandish for candidates to assume those more active voters are also likely to be the most politically rigid, creating an incentive for candidates to tailor their campaign message to address the priorities of the party's most vocal loyalists and activists. As a result, a candidate's rhetoric tells us what they believe their most ardent supporters value more: Partisan purity or electability in the general election. 

Given the state of the GOP, that's a legitimately difficult preference to predict. However, it highlights how political parties can become victims of the very echo chambers they help construct.

Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas and founder of Schaus Creative LLC, an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him on Twitter @schausmichael or on Substack @creativediscourse.