Jim Hartman: Who is Greg Kidd?

U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei is running for his seventh full term in 2024 representing Nevada’s expansive 2nd Congressional District, including Carson City, all of Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing and Washoe counties, and the majority of Lyon County.

Amodei won a special House election in 2011 and was re-elected to full terms in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. He easily defeated Democrat Elizabeth Krause by 22% in 2022. In each election Amodei won every county in the district.

A Carson City native, Amodei, 66, is the dean of Nevada’s six member congressional delegation and its sole Republican.

No Democratic candidate filed to run for the deep-red seat in 2024.

A plurality, about 38% of District 2 voters, are Republicans. But 25% of district voters are Democrats and nearly 30% are nonpartisans.

Enter Greg Kidd, 65, a wealthy venture capitalist and Republican, who submitted 1,500 signatures in May to run as a nonpartisan candidate.

Kidd was born in Connecticut but describes himself as a “citizen of the world.” He was educated at Brown (B.A.), Yale (M.B.A.) and has a degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

He is the co-founder and CEO of Hard Yaka, a venture capital firm. Kidd was an angel investor and advised companies, including Twitter, Square and Ripple.

He moved to Crystal Bay from Silicon Valley roughly three years ago.

His campaign is self-funded.

The big money Kidd has donated to his own campaign proves he’s playing to win.

Based on June 30 federal campaign reports, Kidd loaned his campaign $1.5 million and had already spent $1 million.

Amodei raised about $670,000 over the past 18 months and spent about $500,000.

Kidd reported $440,000 on hand and Amodei $540,000.

Kidd is attempting to appeal to nonpartisan voters and Democrats. Though a registered Republican, Kidd says he’s pro-choice and supports ballot Question 6 to enshrine abortion rights in the Nevada Constitution.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen has endorsed Kidd and a poll taken for the Nevada Independent (Aug. 3-5) shows Amodei with only a narrow lead (4.4%) with more than a third of voters undecided.

Republicans discount the poll noting Amodei has won every election in his district by 15% or more.

Kidd criticizes Amodei for voting against the CHIPS Act, Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” and faults him for not finding a bipartisan immigration solution.

He wants to “get things done,” pledging to work with both parties. Kidd proposes to “caucus” with Democrats and Republicans “depending on the issue.” In real world politics, congressional party leaders won’t let that happen.

With more than 80 percent of Nevada land owned by the federal government, Kidd recognizes it’s important to continue the work of transferring land in Nevada to local government to stimulate economic growth.

“I don’t think I can do a better job on the lands bill than Amodei. He’s been doing a great job,” Kidd concedes.

Amodei currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee, a much-coveted legislative assignment. In April, he became chairman of its Homeland Security Subcommittee.

As a House GOP Appropriations subcommittee chair, Amodei joined 11 other subcommittee chairs, known colloquially as “cardinals,” who have major power on spending.

In June, Amodei announced his subcommittee’s approval for FY25 of additional resources for Border Patrol agents, border security technology, border barriers and immigration enforcement.

In May, the House passed Amodei’s bipartisan Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, addressing a judicial decision (Rosemont) which could upend critical mining projects.

Amodei and Rosen teamed on a bill that would have blocked the U.S. Postal Service plans to move all mail processing from its Reno facility to California. Amodei applauded the Aug. 27 USPS announcement scrapping the plan.

Incumbent Amodei has a proven record. Kidd’s hefty self-financed bankroll makes for a competitive congressional race.

E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.