Congressman Mark Amodei is looking at a potential bid for Nevada's gubernatorial race in 2022. He would face a growing list of candidates. North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo have already thrown their hats into the ring. Former Sen. Dean Heller is also a potential candidate.Â
"We're talking to people, we're evaluating things, we're looking at voting patterns in the last few primaries which quite frankly are strong for northern Nevada in terms of casting almost half of all republican votes in a republican primary," Amodei, R-Nevada said.
While Amodei is seriously considering a run against incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak, he has not made an official announcement.
"So far, so good," Amodei said. "We like our chances but quite frankly, I don't and maybe it's a mistake, I don't understand the rush to announce."
Amodei says he is still focused on his job in Washington, D.C. Last week, he voted against a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He says a commission would be redundant since there are four other standing committees that can already do the job.
"There's a ton of politics on January 6," Amodei said. "There's a ton of tragedy. It was awful but to now say we're going to have yet another outfit look into it on our behalf when we've got four or five committees that can do it and we don't know who exactly is going to be on it. No thank you."
The U.S. Senate blocked the bill with a filibuster, Friday. Six republicans voted in favor of of it but that was four less than is needed to overcome the filibuster.
Amodei also has questions about President Joe Biden's $6 trillion budget proposal. The spending plan would be the highest since World War II. It comes on the heels of $6 trillion spent on COVID relief plans.
"Can we slow down and see how this stuff is working out? Watch the recovery a little bit more?" Amodei said. "What it boils down to me is that old saying 'You never want to waste a good disaster' because you can get stuff done that you couldn't do before."
The budget includes an increase in spending on infrastructure.
"I haven't seen the bill but I know there's been some very general talk and it's like 'Well, everything is infrastructure,'" Amodei said. "When you talk about an infrastructure bill, are we talking about project infrastructure or are we talking about progress and political goals infrastructure?"
Amodei approved of the CARES Act, last year. He did have concerns about the additional money set aside for unemployment benefits. He says those concerns are a reality as some businesses struggle to hire employees.
"We're finding out even at the $300 level, it's like this isn't a safety net," Amodei said. "People are making the conscious decision to have unemployment be their vacation."
Amodei, along with Nevada representatives Dina Titus, Steven Horsford and Susie Lee are sponsoring the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, along with California representative John Garamendi. It would reauthorize $415 million in funding to prevent wildfire and invasive species, as well as improve lake clarity and the environment. The funding would run through September 30, 1034.
"Lake Tahoe is a special place," Amodei said. "We kind of get used to it because it's around and it's not very far and you can go up there and whatever but I think there is a responsibility, quite frankly, to treat the resource as the unique thing it is."
Nevada could see some changes in its election laws during the next cycle. One of them would change the state's presidential caucus to a primary election. Amodei is open to that idea but he opposes a measure that would create universal mail ballots.
"That's new and there's a lot of people that are concerned about it. I don't like it because of the opportunity for mischief," Amodei said.
Amodei will spend the next couple of weeks in Nevada, visiting constituents. He plans on attending several Memorial Day events during the holiday weekend.
