As other candidates are barnstorming Iowa, Jeb Bush made an out-of-the-way stop Tuesday to campaign in the rural town of Elko, Nevada, a small city in the northeastern corner of the state.
The Republican presidential candidate made a similar pitch as he’s been making in other early voting states, urging the crowd to prove the pundits “wrong” and back a candidate that may be low in the polls yet has a record of experience rather than the current front-runner, Donald Trump.
“I have confidence that you’re going to make the right decision, and I hope that you’ll caucus for me in the fourth week of February, where you’re going to make a difference to send a signal to the rest of the country that people in Nevada got their head’s screwed on the right way,” he said.
Bush delivered his standard stump speech to about 135 people at the rally, which was held in the Northeastern Nevada Museum, a sprawling venue that’s filled with taxidermy animals among other exhibits.
The Elko High School Band helped provide a musical welcome.
It was an off-the-radar kind of stop. Only 844 people caucused in Elko County in 2012, but voter turnout is expected to be larger this year.
“We’re anticipating a pretty good turnout this time. It’s a process. Nevada hasn’t always been a caucus state, so we’re getting more into it,” said Nevada GOP Chairman Michael J. McDonald, who helped introduce Bush at the event, but is not endorsing any of the candidates.
Bush flies Tuesday night to Des Moines, Iowa, where he’ll attend the GOP debate Thursday and then embark on an aggressive three-day campaign schedule across the state before the caucuses on Monday.
The Elko stop, Bush’s campaign says, was made to show that Bush has a ground game in all the early voting states and that they’re not leaving any behind.
“I think being in Nevada reflects what we’ve doing the entire year which is to be in early states often and to be in all of them,” said spokeswoman Kristy Campbell.
Jeff Russell, a contractor from Elko, said he’s leaning towards Bush and Donald Trump.
“I think he’s a brilliant guy; he just says the wrong things sometimes,” Russell said of Trump.
As for Bush, Russell said he found Bush to be sincere. “Everything I’ve heard about him — none of it’s been negative. I thought his brother was a fine president and I thought his dad was a fine president.”