Amodei, Kidd discuss voter ID, housing, misinformation

At a public forum Wednesday night at the Brewery Arts Center, incumbent U.S. Congressman Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and challenger Greg Kidd, a nonpartisan independent, shared some laughs and good humor but did clash a few times on divisive topics.

Wednesday’s forum was presented by the League of Women Voters of Northern Nevada, Sierra Nevada Forums and AAUW Capital (NV) Branch, one of four co-sponsored by the Nevada Appeal.

The event was moderated by Lucia Starbuck of KUNR. More than 200 people attended.

Amodei graduated from Carson High School in 1976, served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps and in the Nevada Assembly and Senate before heading to Washington in 2011. Representing Nevada’s Congressional District 2, he currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee and chairs the Homeland Security Subcommittee.

According to his website, Kidd is an entrepreneur and investor who previously worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School and was a senior analyst for the U.S. Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. His website says he came to Nevada for the trails “and soon fell in love with the state.”

Right off the bat, with mention of a ballot error in Carson City, the two men were asked what measures they would take to ensure fair and accurate elections.

Amodei said there was no evidence anybody was trying to hijack an election, but he supported a voter ID measure on the Nov. 5 ballot, calling it a good first step.

“Do I think voter ID is a good idea? Yes, I do,” Amodei said. “Do I plan to vote for whatever the question is that says voter ID? Yes. By the way, an interesting thing nobody talks about, see what we’re spending on elections. Not a lot. And I’m not a guy who believes money is the answer to everything, but if you want all sorts of these safeguards, then guess what? It’s going to cost your local officials a lot more money than they’re spending now.”

State Question No. 7 reads: “Should the Nevada Constitution be amended to require voters to either present photo identification to verify their identity when voting in-person or to provide certain personal information to verify their identity when voting by mail ballot?”

Kidd was opposed to the ballot measure.                    

“I support voter ID but multiple forms, so I do not believe there should only be one form of voter ID, so I will be voting against Proposition 7 because it specifies there is only one way to prove your identity, and I believe there are multiple ways. And talking about costs, I agree, and other countries and other states have moved forward, and so to be able to get credentials including voter credentials — not just your driver’s license — on a mobile phone, which 97 percent of Americans have, I would like to see those methods because they both increase inclusivity, and they also reduce the cost of voting.”

Starbuck later asked the candidates if former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and if they would accept the election results in November.

Amodei said Trump lost Nevada. He said he would accept the results in November. Kidd agreed, and both men believed Joe Biden was elected president.

Switching topics to improving housing options in Nevada, Amodei said 85 percent of land in Nevada is owned by the federal government. Some of that should be transferred to local government for more inventory, he argued.

“Nobody is ready for this statement: I miss Harry Reid in the Senate for lands bills,” Amodei said.

A Democrat and former majority leader from southern Nevada, Reid died in 2021.

Amodei also pointed to construction costs and supply chain issues as factors and warned about growing federal debt and its effects on financial markets.

Kidd proposed a permanent fund for Nevada akin to Alaska’s permanent fund dividend to residents that comes from investment earnings on mineral royalties. He asserted such a fund in the Silver State could “make long-term investments in housing, in healthcare, in education, upgrading the electrical grid and building the lithium loop and being strategic about our future.”

Pressed on how to pay for it, Kidd said: “Nevada has in the world the lowest tax on mining. I’m not suggesting changing that for gold and silver, but for lithium, that lithium is going to come out of the ground, and I think if we take the example of Alaska, Norway, other mineral-rich states, we need to put some of that money aside.”

Amodei countered, emphasizing the mining industry pays living wages and benefits.

“And I’ll just say this: if every industry paid and provided the benefits that that industry did, it would be a lot cheaper for the state and local governments to do the things that we expect government to be the safety net for,” he said. “So, when we say, ‘Hey, you know, they’re Canadian or whatever,’ well, they pay in U.S. dollars, and they create U.S. jobs.”

A question about reproductive rights including abortion touched off differences in the candidates about the role of the federal government considering the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Kidd argued reproductive rights are civil rights that need to be federally protected, not left to the states. He said he supports State Question No. 6, which would amend the Nevada Constitution “to create an individual’s fundamental right to an abortion, without interference by state or local governments, whenever the abortion is performed by a qualified healthcare professional until fetal viability or when necessary to protect the health or life of the pregnant individual at any point during the pregnancy,” according to the Carson City sample ballot.

“We’re doing the best we can in this environment, but I don’t think women’s healthcare should be a zoning issue,” Kidd said.

Critical of the language in State Question No. 6, Amodei responded: “There has been no problem in Nevada since — this is an important phrase — Nevada voters said what they wanted the rule to be in Nevada. Twenty-four weeks, you don’t need a reason. After that, with medical necessity, that’s fine, too. They did say you always had to have a doctor involved, which ought to be good news for people who are doctors in the OBGYN area, but what they didn’t say was, ‘We want somebody from the federal government from 49 other states besides us telling us what the rules are’… because you don’t know where that will end up.”

One of the last questions of the night addressed conspiracy theories and inquired what actions Congress should take “to stop the spread of harmful information that impedes public safety.”

Neither candidate offered specific legislative measures, but they did agree leadership is needed.

“Our leaders need to stop doing it, period,” Kidd said.

Amodei pointed to misinformation regarding FEMA funding for recent hurricanes.

“We spent a lot of time telling the people on our side — thank them for asking — ‘Don’t say that. That is not true,’” he said. “That’s one of the latest examples, but it’s like, hey, there is no pushback at all. There is no price to be paid for BSing about it, and there ought to be.”

To view the full video of the debate and forum, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwg9F27JlQw&t=9s