Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Q+A: Voters’ guide for District 4 election and Steven Horsford

Congressman Steven Horsford Hosts Townhall Meeting

Steve Marcus

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., responds to a question during a town hall meeting at the Cora Coleman Senior Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 28, 2013.

Updated Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014 | 9 a.m.

This November, North Las Vegas and central Nevada voters will decide whether to re-elect their newest representative in Congress, Rep. Steven Horsford.

Horsford is the Nevada delegation’s latest addition after the growing state gained a congressional seat in 2011. The district leans Democratic, and Horsford is the heavy favorite to beat his cash-strapped Republican challenger, Assemblyman Cresent Hardy, and two third-party challengers.

Here's a voter’s guide to the race for District 4.

Where is District 4?

District 4 stretches from North Las Vegas into northern Clark County. It also includes all of Esmeralda, Lincoln, White Pine, Mineral and Nye counties as well as part of Lyon County.

The majority of voters live in North Las Vegas, and the district is just barely majority-minority, according to 2010 Census data.

Who’s running in District 4?

Horsford is running for re-election after having spent seven years as a Nevada state senator and previous head of the nonprofit Culinary Training Academy. Since coming to Washington, D.C., in 2013, he’s worked on traditional Democratic issues such as raising the minimum wage, gender equality and affordable education. He’s also the first black representative to serve as Nevada’s Senate majority leader and member of Congress.

Hardy is a businessman from Mesquite who’s running on a platform of getting federal government out of the way so people in Nevada can live their lives. He also wants to balance the federal budget and make Nevada more friendly for businesses.

Russell Best of Stagecoach is running as an independent, and Steve Brown of Las Vegas is running as a libertarian. Both are veterans and businessmen who are painting themselves as outside the Washington establishment.

What are the major issues?

Like Horsford’s congressional colleagues up for re-election, Rep. Dina Titus and Rep. Mark Amodei, the race is largely his to dictate. He is running as a lawmaker who fights for the middle class by creating jobs. He is also lobbying hard for comprehensive immigration reform.

Hardy is a self-described “constitutional conservative” who is asking voters to send him to Washington so he can loosen Congress’ powers. He’d cut down on social welfare programs, opposes same-sex marriage, wants to repeal the 2010 health care reform law and supports a path to citizenship in immigration reform.

What’s been the biggest news of the race?

This race garnered some media attention when Hardy won a primary against Tea Party candidate Niger Innis. Then, at a September fundraiser in Mesquite, Hardy made left-wing national news when he said he agreed with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that 47 percent of America relies on government handouts. As a result, at least one national pollster ruled the district safely Democratic. In addition, Hardy is struggling to raise money, with a July campaign finance report showing he’s in debt $881.

Who are the biggest supporters of the candidates?

Horsford doesn’t just have the support of the state’s Democratic machine — he is part of the Democratic machine.

The state's top Republicans, Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, endorsed Hardy, but haven’t done much else in the way of public campaigning. National Republican operatives also haven’t stepped in to help Hardy.

Veterans in Politics, a local community organization, endorsed libertarian candidate Brown for the seat. Best has no official endorsements the Sun could find, but he does have a comments page of supporters on his website.

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