Republican Pat Hickey won’t run for Assembly again

Republican Pat Hickey of Reno announced Tuesday he’s not seeking re-election in District 25.

Hickey said Nevada’s Legislature is comprised of “citizen legislators.”

“Nothing in that title implies a permanent or professional class of lawmakers,” he said. “I decided last year that the 2015 session would be my last.”

Hickey pointed out he served in two different decades, “and in two different centuries.”

He served in 1997-1998 and in 2013-2015, which included serving as Assembly Minority Leader in the 2013 Legislature.

Hickey was removed from that leadership post this past session by a newly-elected and virulently anti-tax caucus.

“When I was elected to Republican leadership in the Assembly in 2012, I argued that Republicans could (and should) vote for more revenues for Nevada’s schools if significant reforms to education were to be enacted. Many of those reforms were passed in the just-completed 2015 session. I’m proud to have been a consistent voice in support of Governor Sandoval’s budget and a slate of ground-breaking school reforms.

“I will serve out my term and uphold my legislative duties during the interim before the 2016 election but now is the right time to prepare to hand off the duties of Assembly District 25 to the next citizen representative,” he said.