Incumbent assemblywoman faces political newcomer in District 3 election

Incumbent Assemblywoman Selena Torres will be facing Republican Joshua Lemack in Assembly District 3 in November.

As a teacher in Clark County School District, Torres said a constant priority for her is investing in education to have a strong pipeline of teachers to create an equitable education system.

Her other priorities include comprehensive reproductive health care for all Nevadans and protecting workers against union-busting tactics.

“My commitment to the Legislature is to ensure that we’re bringing legislation that is going to support workers’ right to organize … ensure that we’re supporting fair labor practices,” Torres said.

Another issue that Torres said affects all Nevadans is adding requirements for local governments to provide notices to residents in different languages.

“Coming from a community that is English speaking but has a large Spanish-speaking population I think it’s time for our government to be investing in ensuring that these citizens, these Nevadans have the access to participate in that political process,” Torres said.

Her neighbors have had to come to her to help translate government documents. While she said she’s happy to help, “I think that should be done automatically, they shouldn’t have to find somebody else to translate that information for them.”

Torres is named in a pending lawsuit against those who serve as a public employees while also serving in the Legislature, which critics contend violates the Nevada Constitution’s separation of powers clause. She declined to comment on the case.

“I’m just looking forward to continuing to go back to Carson City to serve my community,” Torres said.

Torres was first elected in 2018.

Joshua Lemack

A real estate agent and part-time Uber driver, Lemack is running for public office for the first time. He said he wanted to provide competition in District 3 instead of Torres running unopposed.

Lemack cited former Congressman Ron Paul, a Republican of Texas who ran for president in 1988 as a Libertarian and in 2008 and 2012 as a Republican, as his political inspiration.

“A lot of my views I feel are libertarian. A little bit right leaning obviously, being with the Republican Party,” Lemack said. “I believe in a lot of personal choice as long as I’m not impacting somebody’s life negatively then there shouldn’t be anybody banning me from doing something.”

When he’s talked with fellow business owners a consistent concern was the complexity around obtaining business licenses. Lemack suggested having a “one-stop shop” where business owners could go to easily get all the licenses they need.

Originally from San Diego, Lemack moved to Las Vegas in 2020. He served in the Marine Corps from 2006 to 2010 has worked part time in the National Guard in California and in Nevada.

Lemack said he’d be comfortable working with legislators from the other side either from the majority or minority party if elected.

“Especially if the people of District 3 here are very supportive of a certain subject or issue then absolutely I want to listen,” Lemack said. “I have an open door policy for everybody.”

He said water issues in Nevada need to be looked at more closely.

“I think that’s an every party kind of thing that we need to start focusing on. We’re in a major drought. We need to reevaluate past treaties with other states, maybe put more money into conserving water at Lake Mead,” Lemack said. “Possible water restrictions, holding California a little bit more accountable to the water they use out of the Colorado.”

Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @davidwilson_RJ on Twitter.