Nevada Legislature: Settelmeyer wins capital senate race

Gardnerville Republican James Settelmeyer won the race to replace Mark Amodei as the Capital Senatorial District representative in the Legislature.

He held a better than 2-to-1 lead over Democrat Kevin Ranft as the evening progressed - 23,160 to 10,414.

Settelmeyer attributed the large margin to "knocking on as many doors as I did."

"I knocked on 27,000 doors; started in January," he said.

The Capital Senatorial District includes most of Douglas County, nearly all of Carson City, two-thirds of Lyon and a piece of Storey County. Settelmeyer's victory margin was consistent throughout those counties.

Amodei represented the district in the Senate for 12 years but left because of term limits.

Settelmeyer said the district ranges from Timberline in Carson City to Weed Heights in Yerington and Silver Springs.

"That's a pretty wide economic diversity," he said. "You have to pay attention and make sure you're not ignoring anyone."

He said his goal is to represent all of his constituents.

"We need to try look out for everybody," he said.

He has voted as a staunch conservative in his two terms in the Nevada Assembly and has said repeatedly he opposes raising taxes.

"You do have to look at all the programs we've added over the past 10 years but you cannot just sit there cutting state workers," he said.

He said now that the campaign is over, "the real campaign begins."

"Now the harder one is upon us. We have to solve the problems we're in now," he said. "It's going to be a fun session."

Senate District 4, which is primarily southern Washoe County but also includes part of northern Carson City and Incline Village, was also no contest as the counting progressed. With only IAP candidate Ike Yochum against him, Republican Ben Kieckhefer was cruising to a 3-to-1 victory in that race.