They did let Joe Lombardo (R) defeat Steve Sisolak (D) for NV Governor in 2022, so either the machine isn’t quite perfect all the time or they found Lombardo, despite his (R) label, to be acceptable.
It’s nice for them to have an occasional exception to the rule so they can claim there IS no rule, and it’s also sometimes nice to have an impotent or pliable GOP figurehead as Governor to absorb blame when the rock-solid Democrat legislature’s policies create problems.
Other than Lombardo (and ultra-liberal RINO Gov. Scott in VT), you need a microscope to find a statewide elected Republican in those states now, Utah excepted.
And the same people who claim “well, that can’t happen HERE” in Utah (or Idaho or Montana), are probably the same ones who once-upon-a-time said the same thing about Colorado, and Oregon, and Washington, and Arizona, and Georgia....
He and his Democrat counterpart were asked to stand outside a glassed in room where the election ballots were opened counted and stacked . . . too far away to actually observe if anything weird was going on.
Then, he and his counterpart were asked to sign a statement that they observed no shenanigans in the process. The counterpart signed the statement. My friend refused on the logical basis that he was kept too far away to observe if anything strange was happening or not.
The only thing that came of said refusal was that the local GOP did not ask him to observe again.