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There are 27 candidates running for Northern Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

Meet Rick Shepherd: Republican candidate for Nevada’s CD2

Rick Shepherd, Republican candidate for Northern Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.
Photo courtesy of Rick Shepherd
Rick Shepherd, Republican candidate for Northern Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

Northern Nevada’s congressional district is completely up for grabs this election. Ahead of the June primary, we sat down with the Democrats, Republicans, and the lone Independent running for the seat. Hear from KUNR’s Lucia Starbuck speaking with Republican Rick Shepherd.

Why are you running now, and what makes you the right candidate for this moment?

It is obvious to all who have eyes to see that we are ruled by warmongers, pedophiles, Zionists and psychopaths, and I'm not about to sit and do nothing about it. Mark Amodei is retiring largely because of me. I own markamodei.com. I posted on there about his vote to protect pedophiles by not helping Massie discharge the petition to release the Epstein files. My next step is to replace him with someone like myself who will be anti-Israel, anti-AIPAC, pro-Palestine, anti-war.

What do you think is the top issue, and how would you address it if elected?

We are ruled by pedophiles. They are marginalized and blackmailed by the Israeli lobby and Israel itself. And the war that is going on right now with Iran is nothing but a distraction attempt to get us to stop talking about the Epstein files. If I can't get the list, the next step is to just read it on the floor of the House. Redact the names of the victims and absolutely nothing else. Because until we regain control of our government and our country, we have no hope of prosperity. In my 54 years on this planet, I have never seen anything actually get better.

How will you represent the entire district, from the urban areas to the rural and tribal parts of Northern Nevada?

I drive there now. I'll keep going. And largely the needs are the same. It's just the services that are different. Everyone needs health care, but the problem in the rurals is the lack of health care basically because there isn't the economies of scale necessary to support a for-profit enterprise. So when you have a universal health care that's free at point of service for the consumer and is paid for by tax dollars, you no longer have a profit motive. You have a health motive. And rural communities that were previously abandoned because they're not big enough, now have an avenue to get the treatment that they need. If you are a small business owner, you have a smaller pool of employees to draw from, so your ability to give health care to your employees is greatly reduced compared to your larger competitors. You have health care as a national good, then that removes that inequality, and it levels the playing field between small businesses and large businesses. It's the most pro-capitalist thing we could do, but it gets presented as this lefty, tree hugger thing, and it's not. It's just that we live in a country that's been shoved so far right for so long that anything left of Reagan is Marxist. So whether you're urban or rural, you need power, water, internet, housing, health care, education, voting, these are things to address universally irrespective of your location.

Lucia Starbuck is an award-winning political journalist and the host of KUNR’s monthly show Purple Politics Nevada. She is passionate about reporting during election season, attending community events, and talking to people about the issues that matter most to them.
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