Local businessman, teacher to square off in Distict 28 race

Two newcomers to state political office — Republican Clint Brown and Democrat Reuben D’Silva — will square off in the general election in Assembly District 28 on the east side of Las Vegas.

Brown, owner of an Auto Care Plus car repair business and emissions station, and D’Silva, a Rancho High School history teacher, will compete for the seat being vacated by Democratic Assemblyman Edgar Flores, who gave up the seat to run for state Senate.

D’Silva won the Democratic primary, receiving 64 percent of the votes in a four-person race.

Clint Brown

“I don’t really consider myself to be any type of politician,” Brown said of his entrance to the race.

Brown said he considered running for office in previous election cycles and made his decision to enter the District 28 race when he discovered the Democratic candidate was going to be unopposed and he wanted to give voters a choice.

He has lived and worked in the district for more than 30 years.

Brown said he would be firm in upholding his personal values and philosophies, but open to discussing them with lawmakers on the other side of the political aisle.

“I’m not one for compromising my own values and my own ideals because, first and foremost, I’m a man of faith, so I actually consider that type of value system as a priority,” Brown said. “Wherever I can in between those things, I’d love to be able to work with the other side of the aisle as much as I possibly can.”

Asked what political figure he admired most, Brown didn’t hesitate.

“Because of my faith, the Lord Jesus Christ has been the best political figure to look up to,” he said. “Back in his day, he was a rebel and considered out of the box.”

Brown said he has no intent of becoming a career politician.

He plans a grassroots campaign through meeting constituents in his neighborhood. He said he did not seek political endorsements.

“They (those who endorse candidates) don’t go by beliefs and values,” he said. “They go by who they think is going to win.”

Reuben D’Silva

As a teacher, it’s no surprise that D’Silva has education as a top priority in his bid for the Assembly seat.

“Education was a difference-maker in my life,” he said. “It is the great equalizer in America.”

Born in Mumbai, India, a child of immigrant parents, D’Silva attended Rancho High and studied at College of Southern Nevada and UNLV and earned advanced degrees at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.

“When it comes to education, it’s inherently and symbiotically tied with the growth of this economy,” D’Silva said. “If you want a strong education system over a long term, like 10, 20 or 30 years, it has to be tied to some sort of a game plan, not just us as legislators and not just the governor, but the state as a whole.”

He served as a U.S. Marine, spending a year in a hospital after being wounded in action in Fallujah, Iraq, for which he was awarded a Purple Heart and Naval Achievement medals.

Although a Democrat, D’Silva said he most admires Republican President Abraham Lincoln because of his work in reuniting the nation after the Civil War. He believes that level of commitment is necessary to heal some of the political divides that currently exist in the United States.

While the District 28 race is his first for a state office, D’Silva ran an unsuccessful Democratic primary election campaign against Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., in 2018.

D’Silva has been endorsed by state Sen. Mo Denis, North Las Vegas Councilman Isaac Baron and former Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly.

The district currently has a lopsided registration advantage for Democrats: 13,000 active registered voters versus just 4,000 active registered Republicans, according to figures compiled by the secretary of state’s office.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.