Nevada 2024 Presidential Primary Challenge

Lawsuit brought by the Nevada Republican Party (NV GOP) against the state of Nevada and Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar (D) challenging Nevada’s presidential primary system. In 2021, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed Assembly Bill 126, which transitioned the state from a caucus system to a primary system for nominating presidential candidates. In the complaint, NV GOP alleges that the “mechanism/procedures by which a state political party votes for/choose presidential candidates (which in practice means selecting and binding delegates to a nominating convention), is expressly within the constitutionally-protected right to freedom of association” and therefore, A.B. 126 “threatens to obstruct the rights of the NV GOP and Nevada citizens under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to freely associate.” The Republican plaintiff requests that the secretary of state be prevented from enforcing the provisions of A.B. 126 that require participation in a presidential primary system and requests that the court declare the NV GOP able to select and bind its delegates for the national presidential nominating convention according to its own rules and bylaws. Alternatively, the plaintiff asks the court to deem the results of the 2024 presidential primary non-binding if the GOP is compelled to participate in a primary. 

On July 10, a judge denied the plaintiff’s request. On Aug. 16, the plaintiffs appealed the denial of their motion for a preliminary injunction to the Nevada Supreme Court. The case was dismissed on Jan. 9, 2024.

Last updated: July 28, 2023 9:10 am EST