Why are you running now, and what makes you the right candidate for this moment.
I grew up, born and raised, in Carson City. I've spent my entire adult life as a working Nevadan, and the reason I'm running now is because I've slowly watched as everything within my state has become unaffordable. And that's not just my story, that's the story of my friends, my family, the community at large. And seeing year after year things getting worse, and the career politicians going in there and not making any changes.
What do you think is the top issue, and what is your plan to address it if elected?
The top issue is affordability, and I know that can be a little bit of a buzzword, but it's a very real situation that we're all running into, where the generations behind me, and even the people in my generation, myself included, cannot afford a house. When we're sitting here looking at half a million dollars for a starter home, it's untenable. And a huge part of that is you're competing against millionaires and billionaires for these finite resources. You know, I believe that housing is a human right. And, you know, to take something that should be afforded to every American, and turn it into this commodity for venture capitalists, it's both immoral and it leads to a system where we're seeing insane spikes in homelessness, depression. But I would say housing is probably one of the largest ones.
How will you represent the entire district, from the urban areas to the rural and tribal parts of Northern Nevada?
I was a wildland firefighter out in Winnemucca. I spent a lot of time out in the rurals fencing off abandoned mines. But when we're talking about affordability, that's affecting all Americans across the board, both in cities and in rural places, as well as on reservations. We're seeing housing increases and cost of living going up all over the district. That means housing is becoming unaffordable, health care is becoming unaffordable, food is becoming unaffordable. And being a working class Nevadan, I've been feeling that squeeze just like everyone else. And I understand the importance of getting someone in office who will actually address these issues and will care about the working people here in this state, whether they're from the rurals or the reservations or the cities.
