Congressman Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev) attends a discussion on the opioid crisis in rural Nevada during a roundtable meeting at Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Station 106 Friday, March 23, 2018.
Thursday, April 5, 2018 | 2 a.m.
Democrats
• Amy Vilela: Describes herself as a progressive, Medicaid-for-all activist
• Pat Spearman: State senator representing North Las Vegas
• John Anzalone: A school principal who lists education as one of his chief issues
• Steven Horsford: First representative elected in the 4th District, cites health care among his key issues
• Allison Stephens: Nevada System of Higher Education Regent; describes herself as a health care advocate
• Sid Zeller: Former Marine who previously ran for Congress as a Republican; supports a flat tax
Republicans
• Cresent Hardy: Former 4th District representative who lost his seat to Kihuen in 2016
• Jeff Miller: Businessman who ran in the 1st Congressional District in 2016
• David Gibbs: Veteran and member of the Nevada Republican Central Committee
• Kenneth A. Wegner: Veteran who lost two bids for the 1st Congressional District seat
• Bill Townsend: Businessman and lifetime member of the National Rifle Association
• Mike Monroe: Lost in the 2016 Republican primary to Cresent Hardy
Third parties
• Gregg Luckner, Libertarian: Former Republican who favors free trade
• Rodney Smith, Independent: Longtime Southern Nevada resident who filed as an independent but is billed as a Democrat on his website
• Dean McGonigle: Independent: Advocate of small government
• Warren Ross Markowitz, Independent American Party: A consultant who has run for other offices including County Commission
Ruben Kihuen’s decision not to run for re-election in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District following sexual harassment complaints opened the door for 16 candidates to file for his seat, including a Republican and a Democrat who previously held the office.
Helen Kalla, Nevada State Democratic Party spokeswoman, did not say whether sexual harassment might resonate with voters in Kihuen’s district, instead pointing to issues like health care and improving schools.
“Democrats have focused on campaigning on the values that are important to families in that district, whether it’s improving schools, access to health care, better paying jobs, economic opportunity, equality,” Kalla said. “Democrats are going to be fighting for those values, and that’s the message they’re going to be spreading with voters in CD4.”
Six Democrats, a half-dozen Republicans and four third-party candidates are vying for the seat. Kihuen says his is a key district, he hopes a Democrat keeps the seat and he is looking forward to clearing his name regarding the sexual harassment complaints.
“I wish everybody who is running in the 4th Congressional District primary good luck,” Kihuen said shortly after the candidate filing deadline closed in March. “This is a very important district for the state of Nevada, because it encompasses rural and urban and suburban.”
Kihuen said he is focusing on his time left in Congress rather than figuring out his political and professional future. He didn’t rule out again running for office.
“There’s an open investigation, which I’m fully complying with,” Kihuen said. “It’s an investigation that I requested from the beginning.”
Kalla said Democrats brought in their first wave of organizers in March to work on voter registration in the district as well as the rest of the state.
“We’re just getting started on our voter registration efforts, so we’re definitely we’re ramping up,” Kalla said in late March.
Republicans are also emphasizing volunteer training and voter registration this year, putting officials on the ground earlier in a state that Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election.
“As we head into the November election, we look forward to putting Republicans into office up and down the ticket, and this includes CD4,” Greg Bailor, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said in an email.
The 4th District was created after the 2010 Census and includes the northern part of Clark County. Democrats have almost 36,000 more active registered voters in that district than Republicans, a lead that is down by less than 500 since January.
Statewide, Democrats edge out Republicans in active registered voters by more than 73,000. That gap has narrowed slightly as the primary draws near, from more than 75,000 in January. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee views the district as a fundamentally Democratic one. Officials are confident they can maintain momentum Democrats saw in early races, like Doug Jones’ defeat of Roy Moore in Alabama and higher-than-usual Democratic turnout in the red state of Texas.
Nevada’s primary election —when voters nominate candidates for each political party—is June 12. The general election—when voters elect a candidate/political party from the nominees chosen June 12—is November 6.
Here are the candidates and their websites:
Democrats: Amy Vilela, Pat Spearman, John Anzalone, Steven Horsford, Allison Stephens and Sid Zeller.
Republicans: Cresent Hardy, David Gibbs, Bill Townsend, Jeff Miller, Kenneth A. Wegner and Mike Monroe.
Third parties: Gregg Luckner, Dean McGonigle, Rodney Smith and Warren Ross Markowitz.
This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.
