Republican primary for Assembly District 5 is a 3-way faceoff

Three candidates will face off in the Republican primary race for Assembly District 5.

Mack Miller, who was found guilty of deserting his fellow soldiers in the Iraq War, is making another run for the seat after losing in the 2018 primary. He is facing Retha Randolph and perennial candidate Mitchell Tracy in the primary.

Democratic incumbent Brittney Miller, who is not related to Mack Miller, is seeking reelection.

Miller, 43, insists he did not desert his fellow soldiers, even though his conviction says otherwise. He twice unsuccessfully appealed the ruling. He said his experience in the military still counts, regardless of how his career ended.

He would not point to a specific policy he considers his main legislative priority. He said his priorities can change based on what he hears from constituents.

Miller said he does not want to raise taxes to fill revenue shortfalls brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

He said he supports legislation that supports trade education because such jobs cannot be outsourced.

“You can’t send your toilet to Korea or Philippines to have it fixed when it goes bad,” he said.

Asked what specific budget cuts he supports to offset lost revenue, Miller responded that he is not in a position to answer the question.

“I would be in a position to answer that once elected, because a lot of that information isn’t available to any of us that aren’t elected or that don’t currently work as a bureaucrat within the system,” he said. Miller said departments that are not working or needed could be refocused to work better, but stopped short of saying he would cut them.

Miller also unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Las Vegas last year.

His opponent, Mitchell Tracy, falsely claimed Nevada has become a “sanctuary state,” meaning the state limits its cooperation with the federal government to enforce immigration laws.

“And they welcome illegal aliens here, no matter what the cost is,” Tracy said.

Tracy, said he was forced into retirement after suffering from a health issue in 2018. He previously worked as an insurance claims adjuster.

His plan to combat the shortfall in state revenues from the coronavirus crisis includes making sure undocumented immigrants “aren’t getting into the system.”

He said he supports cutting business taxes and fees, but at the same time supports increasing the gaming tax.

Retha Randolph, 70, works for Hudson Group in its warehouse as a stock associate. She said she has a degree in criminal justice and is an ex-police officer from Kansas City.

If she could accomplish only one thing in her term, she would want to require a minimum of five days of paid sick time annually. (The Nevada Legislature in 2019 passed Assembly Bill 312, which requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to five days of paid time off per year.)

“Being a union member, I just think that every employer should offer some type of sick time,” she said.

She said she supports cutting welfare programs to pay for budget shortfalls brought on by the coronavirus.

“If people are able to work and they’re healthy, nothing is wrong with them, they should work,” she said.

Randolph said she was nonchalant about getting into the race.

“But of course if it happens, I’ll do everything that I can to help this state and solve some of the problems,” she said.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.