The race for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District is between Incumbent Republican Mark Amodei, who has served in the role since 2011, and Democrat Chip Evans.
Reno Public Radio’s Noah Glick sat down with Mr. Evans to discuss his thoughts on the economy, public lands, veterans' issues and more.
Noah Glick: The economy is on everyone’s mind. What is your economic plan? What is your vision for the economy here?
Chip Evans: "We’ve made a lot of progress on our economy, but in fact, Northern Nevada really lags not only the country, but lags in the state. Even in some of the economies that look to be robust at the moment, they are so volatile. So we need diversification of our economy up here."
"I have a couple projects I want to champion in Congress. The first is a green energy segment. There is so much that can be done in that area that we’re perfect for here in Northern Nevada. The second, I believe that it’s really time to develop a strategy for the country that would specifically help us. And that’s to develop a high speed data highway."
Public lands are also an issue here for Nevadans. So where do you stand on ownership and development on public lands and how would you work those ideas in a federal capacity?
"I want to make a very clear distinction. I do not support turning over big chunks of public lands to the state for the purpose of selling them off. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with that. Our public lands are a precious resource, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. If we had every bit of developable land that’s available already fully done, we might be having a different conversation. But if I’m seeing a bunch of empty buildings and a bunch of empty lots and closed down space, then let’s focus there."
I know veterans’ issues are very important to you. You’ve been very vocal in your support of de-privatizing healthcare for veterans. Can you talk a little bit about that and some of the issues concerning veterans?
"Well first and foremost, Congress has a responsibility to our veterans. Our veterans made a pledge to us and we made a pledge back to them that would we take care of, certainly their service-related injuries, and we’re not doing that very well."
"We’ve put our recent veterans through things that previous veterans never did: so many multiple tours, they go into places where there is no such thing as a 'safe zone,' they have to be on high alert all the time. So I resent and absolutely find it unacceptable that Congress will not fund what’s needed for the VA to do its job. And the idea of privatizing the VA is the height of stupidity in my mind."
What about civilian healthcare? Where do you stand on the Affordable Care Act?
"The deal on that is that this is not government healthcare. So people who are spouting that have it wrong. This was an attempt at insurance company reform. The Republican Party basically said, 'We’re not going to let Obama have any accomplishment at all if we can stop it.'"
"So we get this Affordable Care Act, a massive adjustment to the healthcare system. It gets passed, and like any big piece of legislation—or any new product—you know, the very first version of it has warts. And pretty soon you see them. You say, 'Hey it’s not working here the way it intended to. It’s not working here the way it intended.' But you don’t say you’re going to throw the whole thing out. You start to work on the problem. And in the business world, if you’re not attending to the problem and working on the next one, solving this one and moving on, you’re dying."
Where do you stand on the current Presidential campaign so far and how do you feel it will impact some of the down-ticket campaigns, including your own?
"Well I believe my own campaign is going to prosper from the fact that Mr. Amodei signed up to be Mr. Trump’s Chair here in the state of Nevada. I mean, we can all appreciate good team players, but sometimes you have to examine, 'Am I on the right team?'"
Chip Evans is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives against Incumbent Republican Representative Mark Amodei.
