LAS VEGAS — In Nevada, “Desperado” isn’t just the name of a roller coaster at Buffalo Bill’s Hotel and Casino — it’s also how three-term Democratic Rep. Susie Lee describes her GOP opponent in Nevada’s 3rd congressional district this cycle, who she described Wednesday as “a desperate man.”
The man is Drew Johnson, a think-tank veteran who came within a whisper of a 2022 seat on the powerful Clark County Council.
Johnson is running an aggressive campaign against Lee, who he calls “the most corrupt member of Congress since Menendez was kicked out of the Senate,” referring to the disgraced former NJ senator who resigned from office after being convicted on federal bribery charges.
“She is so self-interested; she has over 200 examples of STOCK Act violations,” Johnson said of the 2012 law barring members from trading on insider knowledge.
He said Lee “has example after example of insider trading, where she has taken the knowledge that she gained as a member of Congress and made herself and her family hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars off of that knowledge. … She went into Congress rich, and has made herself richer.”
Johnson said he would not own individual stocks if he’s elected to Congress.
The GOP challenger’s campaign has sponsored roadside posters and even devoted a website to chronicling her record at www.shadysusielee.com.
At a Las Vegas event promoting the Harris-Walz ticket, Lee spoke with The Post for 58 seconds and only offered the “desperate” comment. The campaign had not responded to a reporter’s interview request prior to the event.
Lee leads Johnson by 13 points in a late August survey of likely voters from Emerson College.
But Johnson says Lee could take a hit when voters review her record.
“She has made life worse for everybody in this district, with her tax and spend policies, with her extreme views on energy policy that increased the cost of gas, and frankly, everything we buy,” he said in an interview.
Johnson says Lee’s identification as a “bipartisan” legislator — a word she used when speaking with The Post Wednesday — isn’t supported by her voting record.
“She’s in a very purple, very moderate district, a very entrepreneurial district, and she has voted with Biden 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, she voted 99% of the time with Pelosi and 92% of the time with ‘squad’ members,” he continued.
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He said Lee rarely appears in the district when Congress is not in session, preferring to spend winter breaks at her family’s vacation home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Her constituent services have become terrible,” Johnson charged. When a small business owner, when a veteran, when a senior who has issues with their Social Security calls her office, a lot of the times, their response is slow, if they get a response at all.”
Speaking to The Post, Lee defended her record.
“I’ve been elected for three terms, and I delivered for our community: 140,000 jobs, $4.8 billion of investment in our community, good paying jobs.”
Lee also said she was “fighting to bring down the cost of housing,” and claimed she was ranked the most bipartisan member of Congress, which The Post was unable to independently verify.
Johnson said that in knocking on 24,000 doors in the district, voters of all stripes have told his campaign that the economy and immigration are the key issues. He said he believes he’s on the right side of those topics and that if Republicans both turn out the vote and get mail-in ballots sent in early, he will win.
