2024 General Election: U.S. Congress, Second District

Mark Amodei

 

Mark E. Amodei

Republican

Occupation: U.S. Congressman

Age: 66

Contact: Amodeifornevada.com

Record of service

• Congressman Amodei served with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps, from 1983 to 1987.  

o Awards and honors: Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal.

• Upon receiving an honorable discharge, Congressman Amodei returned home to become an attorney with the law firms Allison MacKenzie in Carson City from 1987 to 2004 and Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw and Ferrario (now Kaempfer Crowell) in Reno, Nevada from 2004 to 2007.

• Served in the Nevada Assembly from 1996 to 1998 and in the Nevada State Senate from 1998 to 2010 representing the Capital District.

• Served as President of the Nevada Mining Association from 2007 to 2008.

• Served as Nevada Republican Party Chairman until May 2011, when he stepped down to pursue the Republican nomination for Congress.

• Congressman Amodei was the Republican candidate for Nevada’s Second Congressional District in the September 13, 2011 special election.

• 118th Congress Committee Assignments: House Appropriations Committee.

o Subcommittee Assignments: Homeland Security (Chairman); Interior, Environment and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government.

• Caucuses: Congressional Western Caucus (Vice Chair), Army Caucus, Congressional Joint Strike Fighter Caucus, USO Caucus, Veterans Job Caucus, Public Broadcasting Caucus, Italian-American Caucus, Conservative Climate Caucus, Postal Preservation Caucus, ALS Caucus.

Education

Bachelors of Arts, University of Nevada, Reno, 1980,

Juris Doctor, University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 1983

Briefly describe the core duties of the position you are running for. 

A lot of people seem to think that being in Congress is just about voting on bills, but in reality, I spend a lot of time providing oversight of federal agencies and making sure they are complying with the law and treating Nevadans fairly.  I’m also very proud of my office’s constituent services operations, helping Nevadans every day in receiving the benefits and services they are entitled to. 

A brief statement about your platform

My top priorities in Congress will continue to be specific to Nevadans, including helping foster economic growth in Nevada through the conveyance of federal lands surrounding our communities to local authorities so that they can actually be utilized, using my position as a chairman on the House Appropriations Committee to ensure that federal dollars continue to come to Northern Nevada, and providing oversight of federal agencies in how they carry out their duties in our state and how they treat Nevadans.

What is the biggest issue facing Northern Nevada residents and what can you do to solve it?

Inflation and the high cost of living continues to be the biggest problem facing Nevada and our country. Even after the pandemic ended, the Biden Administration still spent $4.2 trillion in stimulus packages, in which they pushed funding for a new army of 87,000 additional IRS agents, funding for climate justice and the Green New Deal, and the expansion of Obamacare. With Republicans retaking the House the last election cycle, we have been able to cap annual spending and ensure that there are better guardrails on how taxpayer dollars are being spent, and I will continue to make sure that we’re not just frivolously throwing money at problems that really just require better oversight.

What makes you the most qualified candidate for this position

I’ve spent my whole life in Nevada, except for my time in law school and the U.S. Army. I’ve had a lifetime to learn about Nevada’s issues and how best to serve my state. Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve also built the relationships and seniority in the House of Representatives that allows me to be a more effective representative of our state. As a chairman on the House Appropriations Committee, I am in the best position to make sure that Nevada gets its fair share of federal resources, and when I call in federal agencies to discuss issues impacting Nevadans, they actually listen. Most importantly though, I’m not and never have been in this for myself. While my opponent wants to use Congress to ease restrictions on his tech companies and the bank he owns, I wake up every day focused on delivering for Nevadans so our state can prosper.

Greg Kidd

 

Greg Kidd

Occupation: Entrepreneur, Investor, Business Leader

Age: 65

Contact: greg@kiddfornevada.com; www.kiddfornevada.com

Record of service

I worked with Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School in New Hampshire, Wyoming, Alaska, and Latin America. I also joined the payments group of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington D.C. as a senior analyst. 

Education

Greg was educated at Brown (B.A.), Yale (M.B.A.) and has a degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. 

Briefly describe the core duties of the position you are running for

To work hard and to fight for the people of Northern Nevada. To make our economy much more resilient by bringing in new jobs and new industries; by supporting the lithium loop and by creating a permanent fund for the state of Nevada.

 A brief statement about your platform

I’m running as a nonpartisan because I want our democracy to function better, and I’m willing to work with both sides to get things done.

I believe strongly in a woman’s right to reproductive care. A woman and her doctor should make this decision, not the government, whether it be Federal or state government.

I support the legislation providing $1 billion in Nevada to boost affordable housing. He sided with extremists against high-profile Nevadans in his own party, including Governor Lombardo and former Governor Sandoval, and then showed up for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Our neighboring states of Arizona and New Mexico get way more Federal money than we do; I think that’s a huge mistake and would put in the work to fix it.

I’m self-funded, so I’m beholden to no one. While ordinary citizens in our district are suffering, I don’t think it’s right to consistently vote for pay raises for politicians, including the largest pay increase for elected officials in Nevada history.

It’s time for new leadership for our district. 

What is the biggest issue facing Northern Nevada residents and what can you do to solve it?

The biggest issue facing Northern Nevada residents is the fact that Nevada’s economy needs to offer more opportunity to its residents. People need a way to earn a good living wage, to live near where they work (affordable housing) and to a good education. For this to happen, we need to have an economy that is not seasonal: while we have a rich history of mining, gaming, and tourism, we need more.

What we need is a comprehensive plan to bring better jobs to Nevada. It begins with the lithium loop. We need to capture the benefit of our solar and mineral wealth from the sun to the socket and from the ground to the gigafactory. If we do, we’ll be the richest state in the nation per capita rather than an also-ran. We need to plan for, and to create, an ecosystem of lithium mining, processing, manufacturing, and recycling — all in our state!

I am proposing a Nevada/District Permanent Fund to realize the value of our mineral resources rather than letting them slip out the door to non-Nevada and non-US entities. Let’s invest in ourselves. The Alaska Permanent Fund has over $74 billion and has paid out an average of approximately $1,600 annually per resident. Norway has done the same thing with its oil and gas – if a dollar is coming out of their country, they add 25 cents, which they invest. It has about double the population of Nevada – and last year it earned $213 billion from that fund. Nevada has $0 because our fund doesn’t yet exist. This is why we are near last place in educational achievement in our schools, and why we have chronic shortfalls in health, housing, roads, and other infrastructure in our 2nd District.

What makes you the most qualified candidate for this position 

I’m a job creator, innovator, and pragmatist who’s committed to getting things done. In 1990, I founded a courier dispatch company called Dispatch Management Services Corporation. I grew it from a small bike messenger firm to be the world's largest on-demand dispatch company, with revenues of $250M, a 5,000+ workforce, and a 1998 Nasdaq IPO. 

I’m not a career politician. My opponent has shown himself to be low-energy, low-producing, and unwilling to reach across the aisle. He’s out of touch with the challenges that everyday Nevadans deal with, and he has no solutions. I have fresh ideas, some of which I’ve detailed above, and the most important issues facing Nevadans are economic in nature. That is what I do. And that is why it’s time for a change.