The two major candidates for Nevada’s Congressional District 2 presented their case Friday before the League of Women voters and the audience may have been surprised at the number of issues they basically agreed on.
U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, the incumbent Republican, started off by agreeing with Democrat Mercedes Krause that the 2020 election was fair and its results valid. Of course, Amodei pointed out it’s difficult for him to argue otherwise when those results returned him to Congress by a wide margin.
Amodei also said he believes Nevada election officials do a good job of running the state’s elections but added that some improvements such as stronger Voter ID rules would make things even better.
“It was a fair election,” said Krause. But she said efforts to reduce voter access are a serious concern, “so that all eligible voters make their vote heard.”
Amodei said his biggest concerns are the money going into campaigns even in tiny Nevada and the impact of social media.
Krause said she believes the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, allowing corporations unlimited campaign spending, has to be overturned by Congress.
“Me too,” said Amodei.
He also called on Congress to control social media.
“There are almost no rules they need to abide by and that scares the heck out of me,” he said, calling on Congress to put some controls in place.
Another area of agreement is over the potential for attempts to reduce reproductive rights for Nevada women. Krause said she is solidly behind women’s rights to control their reproductive health, that “the government should not be in there when we are at our doctor’s appointment.”
Amodei said those issues should be left to the states, not the federal government, under the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade. He also said the right to contraception in Nevada is protected in state law and he wouldn’t change that.
Both also said DACA is a good base to start fixing the nation’s immigration laws. Amodei has called for action on immigration for years without success.
Krause said it’s time to stop demonizing immigrants, saying, “the vast majority of people coming over are hard-working, good people.”
Amodei said DACA provides a way to get those immigrants a green card so they can stay and continue their lives in the U.S. while they go through the process of applying for citizenship, adding it gives immigration a way to “weed out the bad apples.”
But he did call for some system at the border that, “meaningfully screens people who are coming in.”
Krause said the federal government has to get more involved in efforts to make more affordable housing available to people. She said out of state and foreign investors coming in and buying up housing is a problem.
For such professions as teachers in rural and tribal areas, tax credits to help them get livable housing would be big step in the right direction.
Amodei said one issue there is that, in rural Nevada, too many towns are landlocked by federal lands and can’t grow when they need to. He said Congress needs to help with that problem.
They also agreed Social Security must be protected. Amodei pointed out that, “as a guy who’s 64, I don’t think it’s a good time to phase Social Security out.”
But they disagreed on so-called Medicare for all. Krause said standardizing pricing for doctors would help. But Amodei said having just one payor could reduce competition and reduce the number of doctors — an issue Nevada is always trying to cope with.
Both also agreed it’s much more expensive to incarcerate people than to educate them. And both said more mental health resources are needed in the public education system to prevent more people from ending up in prison.
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