9 candidates seeking to replace term-limited Hambrick in Assembly District 2

Nine candidates on both sides of the aisle are vying to replace longtime Republican Assemblyman John Hambrick in Summerlin’s Assembly District 2.

Hambrick, who served as speaker of the Assembly in 2015 and has held the seat for a dozen years, but he is termed-out and unable to run again. It’s a competitive seat, Republicans holding a slight voter registration advantage of 15,166 voters to the Democrats’ 14,447 as of April.

The winners of the two primary races, along with nonpartisan Garrett LeDuff, will face off in November for the seat.

Christian Morehead will appear on the primary ballot, but he said that he has suspended his campaign.

Republican primary

Heidi Kasama

Las Vegas Realtor Heidi Kasama said she is running because she is believes that Nevada is moving too far away the business friendly environment that helped Nevada grow.

“Business is what employs people and gives them a paycheck,” Kasama said. “We cannot over-regulate business, cannot over-regulate our industries.”

Kasama has previously served as president of both the Nevada Realtors and the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. She is also a certified public accountant and worked as an accountant for insurance and energy companies and audited state universities in the Seattle area before moving to Las Vegas in the early 2000s.

She said her financial background will “add a lot of value” when it comes to making tough decisions on the budget as the state navigates the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

Kasama said specifically she’d like to look into where education dollars are being funnelled and wants to evaluate the overhead and administrative costs and see how much of that can be reduced.

“I really believe in fiscal responsibility and watching over wisely the assets that the citizens of the state give to the state. Those revenue and tax dollars need to be spent wisely and judiciously,” Kasama said.

Erik Sexton

Erik Sexton is a commercial real estate broker and first-time candidate who said he is running because he wants to keep the state’s business environment friendly.

Sexton, who said he has been self-employed since he was 18, believes that his experience in the business world would aid him as a lawmaker as the state works towards coming out of the economic crisis.

“We need some people in government who know how to run a business,” Sexton said.

Sexton said he feels like he’s better equipped than the other Republican candidates running because, in part, of his age. The 34-year-old said he is “old enough to connect with older voters, and young enough to be able to bring in younger voters.”

“One of the things that I think Republicans are missing is bringing in the young families,” Sexton said.

Jim Small

After coming within 300 votes of knocking Hambrick off as an incumbent in 2018, Jim Small is back running for the now-open seat this cycle because “we need conservative-leaning Republicans in Carson City.”

One thing he learned from his previous run? “I learned, frankly, to not run against a five-term incumbent,” Small said. “It’s almost impossible.”

Small retired in 2011 after a lengthy career with the National Labor Relations Board, where he finished as the regional director over the Los Angeles area.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Small said he wanted to focus on “correcting the red flag law” that Democrats passed in the 2019 session and addressing the opioid epidemic among the older population.

Small was critical of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s handling of the pandemic, and specifically called the governor’s directive that temporarily prohibited people from attending church even in a drive-through setting “unfair.”

When it comes to dealing with the budget shortfalls from the coronavirus, Small said the state should “be cutting taxes to help businesses survive.”

Taylor McArthur

Taylor McArthur did not respond to requests for an interview from the Review-Journal.

Democratic primary

Radhika Kunnel

For Radhika Kunnel, the idea of running for public office “is something that’s been brewing for a while.”

“I’ve always been interested in public service,” Kunnel said.

Kunnel, a microbiologist, said that “it’s time for science to be at the forefront of decision making.”

Kunnel initially wanted to focus on legislation relating to health law and healthcare regulations in Nevada. But like other candidates, she knows that dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus will take precedence in the coming session.

“COVID has really been another example where we really should start prioritizing proactive policies,” Kunnel added . “This is a real wake up call for us. It’s time for us to start paying attention to health and the potential of having these pandemic-like scenarios, and putting an emphasis on our healthcare system.”

She said that when it comes to how best to handle the budget cuts, she’s been listening to any and all ideas that voters have brought her, and said that there are different types of taxes that lawmakers could look at to fill some of those holes.

Kunnel is currently finishing her law degree at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law.

Jennie Sherwood

Jennie Sherwood is running for the seat for a second time after losing in the general election to Hambrick in 2018 by roughly 1,000 votes

She said the biggest issue in the coming session will be dealing with the budget, and said she doesn’t want to see another Great Recession.

“When we cut this budget, I’m going to try and make every average Nevadan whole, and not dig into their pockets,” Sherwood said. “It shouldn’t be the average citizen who has to pay.”

One idea Sherwood mentioned was altering Nevada’s corporate taxes on limited liability companies, or LLCs.

The state is known for having cheap fees when it comes to setting up LLCs even for out-of-state businesses. Sherwood said she’d like to set up a “storefront clause,” where companies that are actually operating in the state would still get the rate, but a higher rate would apply to those who are simply out-of-state businesses using Nevada to incorporate.

“I don’t see why we’re giving the whole world a tax break and we don’t get anything for it,” she said.

She also said she wants to work on legislation to set up more trade-training, which she added could help attract more businesses to Nevada.

Eva Littman

Eva Littman did not respond to requests for an interview from the Review-Journal.

Littman is a fertility doctor in Las Vegas whose campaign website describes her as a “pragmatist.”

Littman’s website says also she is “committed to backing up our cops and staying tough on crime,” that we need to improve curriculum and “hold our schools to a higher standard,” and that she wants to increase the number of medical professionals in Southern Nevada.

Joe Valdes

Joe Valdes did not respond to requests for an interview from the Review-Journal.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.