Republican Niger Innis announces he is running for Congress at Leticia’s Cocina, a Mexican restaurant near Highway 95 and Durango Dr., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014. Innis will challenge Democrat Steven Horsford for the seat.
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014 | 1:34 p.m.
Republican Niger Innis announced today he’s running for Congress against Democratic incumbent Steven Horsford in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District.
Innis, national spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality, in his announcement, highlighted economic inequality, lambasted “go-along, get-along Republicans” and promised to introduce “real health care reform” and address “failing schools and the breakdown of the American family” should he be elected.
Innis is likely to face a challenge for the Republican nomination from Cresent Hardy, a Mesquite assemblyman who also is considering filing in the vast 4th Congressional District that stretches from North Las Vegas to Yerington.
Innis, a former strategist for theteaparty.net, positioned himself as a grassroots outsider in his announcement, declaring that his campaign “is not made up of Carson City elites or the princes of power of this state.”
“We cannot afford go-along, get-along, soft, establishment Republicans or big-government, trickle-down Democrats,” he said. “We must be willing to elect leaders who will advance private-sector innovation, entrepreneurialism and help liberate Main Street.”
Innis delivered his announcement at Leticia’s Mexican Cocina in Centennial Hills to a small band of supporters and the media. Dressed in a pinstripe suit with a Nevada-shaped pin on his lapel, Innis told the audience he’s expecting a tough but exciting campaign in the months leading up to the June 10 primary election.
“We’re going to shake things up in this district,” he said.
On hand at the announcement were former Nevada Republican Party chairs Amy Tarkanian and Dave Gibbs, former North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck and several of Innis’ colleagues in the Congress of Racial Equality.
Innis, who often appears on national cable news stations as a commentator, has won the support of former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who headlined a Las Vegas fundraiser for him in November.
Many of the state’s prominent, elected Republicans are backing Hardy, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei and State Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, among others.
Yale Cunningham, a staffer from Hardy’s consulting firm, Red Rock Strategies, was on hand at Innis’ campaign announcement to deliver a statement from Hardy.
“I welcome Niger Innis to the race, and I look forward to a vigorous exchange of ideas as to how we can get Congress and Nevada working again,” Hardy said in the statement. “As a fifth-generation Nevadan, I know this state and our issues through and through. I firmly believe that my deep Nevada roots and vast experience in public service will resonate with 4th District voters.”
Jennifer Taylor, a staffer with Horsford’s campaign, did not want to comment specifically about Innis’ announcement.
“Congressman Horsford is very confident in the strength of his campaign team and as our representative in Congressional District 4, Congressman Horsford has broad grassroots support throughout the district in all of its diversity,” Taylor said.
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