Why are you running now, and what makes you the right candidate for this moment?
I would not have run if Congressman Amodei would have stayed in his position. You're asking somebody to go back to Washington, D.C. and do a job for you. You look at the person, you look at their character, you also look at their resume. What have they done? I am in the Republican primary, the only person with legislative experience 16 years, I've worked in the majority, I worked in the minority. I've passed bills such as Uber and Lyft. They saved lives. We saw a decline in DUIs. But yet in the same respect, the ability to help out citizens of the state of Nevada with the day-to-day problems that for them, it is the world, whether it be getting the phone company calling back, or a power company, or whether it be a government agency, I need my insurance. Sometimes you have the ability in politics to reach out to people and make an effect. That's what I'm about.
What do you think is the top issue, and what is your plan to address it, if elected?
Growth, and also the ability to grow. And if you look at the different issues in Nevada, they're really related to land and water. It'd be great to be able to try to attain some resources to do better studies of certain areas in order to make sure that the amount of water that we have is the actual amount we believe we have. We have to look at grazing; all the land issues associated around that. We also have to look at the highways, as we know, I-80 is a little busy, and there are resources there through the federal government that should be available. They're talking about the concepts between the boring company, trying to get better cooperation on light rail. Unfortunately, at times, the railroad companies are a little bit reluctant to share the rail lines that they have. Those are discussions that need to be continued and ongoing. So, to me, it's kind of everything's on the plate in order to try to solve traffic in that area because it's really unacceptable when you're stop and go traffic. Slows down commerce, that slows down families just trying to go from place to place, maybe to go recreate, maybe they have a job they have to travel.
How will you represent the entire district, from the urban areas to rural and tribal northern Nevada?
When I represented Senate District 17, I had the pleasure of representing Carson City, Douglas County, which has way different resource concerns than Smith Valley, Nevada. You have to figure out exactly what everyone really needs and what's best for all. But then, yes, you'll run across bills and legislation that are more tailored to a particular geographic area, or opportunities that when bills come through to do amendments, so that that way you can try to address individual concerns and issues. The issues that affect Washoe County aren't just Washoe County. We all know that the growth in the businesses within Tahoe Reno industrial complex, which is Storey County, have had impacts on Washoe County, and it's always a balancing act. So you always look out for your region.
