Veteran Democrats Lange, Spiegel, Carrillo seek open SD-7 seat

A trio of Democrats, each with long tenures in Nevada politics, are vying for the open seat in Senate District 7 this year.

With no Republicans or third-party candidates running in the Las Vegas district where Democrats hold a 2-to-1 registration advantage, whoever garners the most votes in the June primary will be de facto winner of the general election for the four-year term. Roughly 46 percent of active voters in the district are registered as Democrats, meaning that less than half of the districts voters will have a say in who will represent the district.

It is an open seat, as incumbent Sen. David Parks is term limited and cannot run for re-election.

Roberta Lange

Roberta Lange has spent most of her political career behind the scenes. She was a three-term chair of the Nevada State Democratic Party, and prior to that had served as the deputy campaign manager on Harry Reid’s 1998 re-election bid.

Lange said she has long thought about running for office, and made the decision this year to run because she saw a path to victory and sees the seat as a platform to make change.

“People are looking for leaders to go there, to make positive change that will help our state. And I believe that I’m that leader,” Lange said.

As a retired teacher, Lange said her “No. 1 issue is going to be education.”

“I think we have to continually be looking for ways to make education better for our state and more equitable for all students,” she said.

When it comes dealing with the expected cuts to the state’s budget caused by the coronavirus-caused economic shut down, Lange said she thinks lawmakers will be able to pull from lessons learned during the Great Recession.

Lange has been endorsed by the Senate Democratic caucus for the seat.

Ellen Spiegel

Ellen Spiegel is a five-term assemblywoman who is looking to jump to the Senate this year.

Spiegel said she would also want lawmakers to look back at the Great Recession and figure out what worked and what could be applied during this downturn to speed up recovery.

“We need to be focusing on rebuilding the state’s economy and helping the Nevadans most affected by the pandemic,” Spiegel said.

Spiegel believes her experience as a member of the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, which handles budgets, would be beneficial when it comes to figuring out how to best address the budget shortfall.

She also said that if elected, she has some unfinished business that she believes could act as a small safeguard for Nevadans during the next economic downturn.

During the 2019 Legislature, Spiegel carried a bill that would create a state-supported retirement program, often referred to as an auto-IRA, which people would also be able to draw from without interest or restriction.

That proposal, Assembly Bill 399, did not receive a vote last session. Spiegel said she submitted a new bill draft request for it on the day the 2019 session ended.

“One of the tings that this entire outcrop of the pandemic is that we really need to be looking at financial security across the board for all Nevadans, both short term and long term,” Spiegel said.

Richard Carrillo

Richard Carrillo has also served five-terms in the Assembly and is looking to make the jump to the open Senate seat this year.

Carrillo, who describes himself as a moderate Democrat, says he’s running so that “the average everyday Nevadan has a voice.”

On dealing with budget cuts, Carrillo doesn’t think adding any new taxes is the right answer, and said he thinks the state should look at revenue from marijuana sales to possibly offset the budget holes.

“People will still obviously buy marijuana. They’ll always find away to buy it,” Carrillo said.

Most of the money generated from the marijuana taxes on retail and wholesale marijuana in Nevada currently goes towards education, while smaller portions go towards the cost of regulating and to local governments. In fiscal year 2019, those taxes generated $99 million in revenue for the state.

He said if elected, he’d want to bring back his bill that would prohibit employers from paying workers with intellectual and physical disabilities below the state’s minimum wage.

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