Koble conducts town hall in Fallon

Clint Koble launched another bid during the summer to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, who defeated the former Nevada state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2018.

The Reno Democrat has visited Fallon several times to discuss his candidacy including a town hall that was recently conducted at the Old Post Office.

Koble is no stranger to rural Nevada and its needs. During his 2018 campaign for Congress and his years with the USDA, Koble travelled throughout the smaller communities, and he said he has enjoyed meeting with the residents.

During the 2018 election, Amodei defeated Koble 58-42%, but Koble saw the positive light with the results coming out of Washoe County. While the rural counties voted overwhelmingly for Amodei, Washoe County had 94,862 votes for the incumbent and 90,706 for Koble. He said capturing 42% of the vote was beyond expectation, and with the number of added voters in Washoe County since the last election, he feels he has a better shot of defeating Amodei, who has served since 2011.

For the past two months, Koble has been visiting Congressional District 2, which includes the northern tier of Nevada from Reno to West Wendover on the Utah border.

“I established myself, and I have a lot of name recognition,” Koble said about his second try at Amodei’s office. “I wanted to build on that to run again.”

Koble said he has been in touch with a majority of voters discussing housing, public lands, the environment, education especially in rural area, humane and comprehensive immigration reform and climate change.

“My campaign stands for the will of the people,” said Koble, who grew up in North Dakota. “I want the representative to know how the people think.”

Koble spent time reviewing his proposal on gun safety. He said about 96% of the people favor some type of background checks. Koble said it may not be an answer, but it’s a start.

Koble said he has been a good owner and hunter his entire life and supports the Second Amendment. He also opposes a national gun registry. One of his proposals opposes assault weapons and modifications to guns that make them work like assault-like weapons.

“I don’t know a hunter who uses an AK-47 to hunt,” he said.

Koble, though, said both major political parties need to talk to each other instead of “kicking the can down the road.”

The congressional candidate also discussed other issues from income inequality, housing costs, infrastructure and the ranching/farming industry.

Koble said wages have modestly increased for the rank-and-file workers, but he questioned why chief executive officer pay has risen 940% during the past four years. He said the economic boom in western Nevada has caused housing prices to climb rapidly and see more people moving to Fernley and Fallon because of more affordable prices than Reno.

Koble said Congress also needs to reform the immigration laws, which was last done in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan, and the government must address climate change. During both campaigns, Koble has discussed his pro-defense military views, but he said he wants more accountability with the military’s budget.

When he served as USDA’s state director, Koble touted the expansion of broadband in the rural areas, one of the way to strengthen the infrastructure. He bristles at the national debt.

“It’s out of control,” he said. “It’s easy to spend someone else’s money.”

Koble said he would like to see Social Security not taxed and Medicare available to seniors 62 years of age and older, not 65.

“A senior can draw Social Security at 62 with some penalty. Why not Medicare?” he asked.

Koble has concerns about the tariffs affecting farm goods. At April’s Churchill County Dairy Summit, agriculture economists from the University of Nevada, Reno and Texas A&M said bankruptcies are up, a statistic Koble echoes. Koble also said farm income is half from 2017 statistics.