Republican Rep. Mark Amodei speaks at a town hall event in Carson City on Feb. 22, 2017.
Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., said Monday he has several reasons for running for another House term but a key is the potential for the GOP to take the majority.
He said a Republican House would put him in an excellent position to take a key role as one of what members call the “12 Cardinals” — potentially a chairman of one of the dozen committees that build the federal budget.
“Even a junior position puts you in a place to do some things, pull some strings,” he said. “If that opportunity presents itself, would I like to take advantage of that? Yes.”
“If Nancy Pelosi is not the speaker any more, I don’t think it’s a good time to break in a new hand on the ranch,” he said.
Another reason for not getting into the increasingly crowded Republican primary for governor, he said, is the fact that running for governor against an incumbent is a full-time job.
“It’s a full-time endeavor,” he said.
Amodei said he already has a full-time job — the job voters in Congressional District 2, which includes Carson City and most of Northern Nevada, elected him to do.
“You really can’t do both,” he said adding that if he were to run for governor, the congressional job wouldn’t get the attention it deserves.
“That’s not a good way to leave. I’m not going to turn my back on the people who elected me six cycles,” he said.
He said he agrees that Gov. Steve Sisolak is potentially vulnerable but quickly pointed out that, “he took very good care of the unions.”
As for those who have announced for governor, Amodei said filing is still five months away.
“It’ll be interesting to see how many of them actually sign up,” he said.
