Candidate is in a class by himself

By Kailyn Brown

Monday, March 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Ben Nakhaima is not your typical college student.

When the 21-year-old economics major isn’t sitting in lectures at Texas Tech University or hanging out with friends, he’s knocking on doors, asking residents of southeast Las Vegas and northwest Henderson to vote for him.

Nakhaima is running against Vinny Spotleson and Ozzie Fumo in a Democratic primary to represent the 21st Assembly District. The seat is held by first-term Republican Assemblyman Derek Armstrong.

Nakhaima, the youngest of four boys to Ugandan parents, became interested in politics as a teenager after watching the 2008 presidential debates with his father. After working the past two summers in Sen. Harry Reid’s Washington, D.C., office and for the Nevada State Democratic Party, Nakhaima decided to run for office.

“We’re the change we want to see in government,” he said. “People always sit around and complain, so instead of complaining, stand up and run.”

If Nakhaima wins the June 14 primary and the November general election, he will be the youngest Assembly representative in Nevada history. State Sen. Ruben Kihuen won an Assembly seat at 25, and in 1920, Ruth Averill at 23 became Nevada’s youngest woman elected to the Assembly.

Just barely making the age cutoff for running in a state election, Nakhaima says he hasn’t encountered criticism about his youth, although he expects it will come.

“There’s an idea that we should be electing politicians based on the amount of gray hair on their head,” Nakhaima said. “It’s silly. It’s about how much you care about your community. Age in most instances is nothing but a number.”

Nakhaima attends class two days a week at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and travels back and forth to Las Vegas to campaign. He plans to transfer to UNLV if he wins the election.

Although he still has a couple of semesters left to graduate, Nakhaima says he has enough time to serve his community.

“You have all these other guys in doctor’s offices and lawyer’s offices making profit, working 10 hours a day, compared to me learning a little bit of math,” Nakhaima said. “I think it’s healthy to not have people with time-consuming careers because they’re not going to represent you. They’re going to represent themselves.”

In the Assembly, Nakhaima hopes to tackle veteran homelessness and unemployment.

He suggested offering tax incentives to businesses in exchange for hiring veterans.

“I’m a Democrat, but I’m 100 percent for tax cuts if businesses and entities are willing to help the community,” Nakhaima said.

As for unemployment, Nakhaima says Nevada needs to raise the minimum wage.

“You have, I think, 160,000 people living on starvation wages of $8.25 an hour. You can’t live on that,” Nakhaima said. “But I’m not ignorant. Businesses are going to be impacted.”

Nakhaima recently interviewed with the State Democratic Assembly Caucus for an endorsement, but if he doesn’t receive it, he’ll continue with his grassroots strategy of connecting with the community. He said one of his opponents has raised nearly $100,000 so far, an amount Nakhaima sees as unnecessary.

“You have all these special interests; you don’t need all that,” he said. “All you need are your two legs, a brain and ideas of how to make your community stronger.”

Mentorship can be helpful as well. Nakhaima said several state legislators have given him advice, particularly former Assemblywoman Lucy Flores.

“Lucy Flores told me that there might be people who discourage (me) or push (me) out of the race for monetary reasons,” Nakhaima said. “But if you want to make a difference in the community, you have to give yourself to the community.”

Asked about his future political goals, Nakhaima said he was focused only on winning this election.

“I’ve seen childhood hunger,” he said. “I’ve seen people lose their jobs here. I’ve seen that things haven’t gotten better quick enough. I think I have the best ideas for the job.”

“I’m a 21-year-old guy,” Nakhaima continued. “I wasn’t picked by a party boss. I was picked by God and myself, and I’d like to show that to the community.”

Clarification: The record holder for youngest Assembly representative in Nevada history is Patrick Murphy. He was elected in 1974 at age 22 to represent what then was District 28 in Reno.