Nevada GOP Chair's PAC Received $100,000 From Group Tied to Former County Chair

A political action committee associated with Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald received a $100,000 contribution last month.

The Alpha PAC lists McDonald as an officer. The $100,000 payment was its largest single donation on record, exceeding a quarter of everything the committee has raised since it launched in 2015. It was also the first contribution the PAC had received in more than three years.

The money came from Fighting For Nevada PAC, a group founded in August. Jesse Law, former chair of the Clark County Republican Party, is the registered agent for that group. Law and McDonald were among six people who signed documents challenging Nevada's 2020 election result. The address on file for Fighting For Nevada PAC matches the address of a company run by Republican consultant Rory McShane, who is working on David Flippo's campaign in the 2nd Congressional District.

Fighting For Nevada's campaign finance report lists Joshua Walters as its sole funder. Walters, a billionaire, ran briefly for Congressional District 3 last year as a Trump Republican before dropping out. McShane, who consulted for Walters, said at the time that business issues led Walters to exit the race.

The Alpha PAC's filings show a separate $12,000 payment to Ops Communications, an entity registered at the same apartment where Law votes. Ops Communications does not appear in the Nevada Secretary of State's business records. A spokesperson for that office did not respond to questions about whether the arrangement complies with campaign finance rules.

An analysis of the PAC's records shows about 40 percent of its roughly $200,000 in historical spending went to consulting work performed by firms connected to Law, McDonald, or George Harris, a Clark County Republican Party official running for state Senate. Another 57 percent covered travel and office costs, and about 6 percent went to political candidates, groups, or initiatives. The committee spent $3,000 in 2021 at a Las Vegas skin care spa.

The Alpha PAC's website states it pursues advocacy and policy work to protect election integrity and make Nevada welcoming for families, business owners, workers, and taxpayers. Law, McDonald, Walters, and Harris did not respond to requests for comment. McShane declined to comment.

The committee drew scrutiny in 2016 when Harris used state party letterhead to solicit donations for a Donald Trump fundraiser and asked that checks be made out to The Alpha PAC. Harris later called it a mistake.