We are still several months away from Nevada's primary election in June. One of the biggest races will be U.S. Senate, where Danny Tarkanian will try to unseat Senator Dean Heller on the republican side of the ticket.
"Looking forward to the next year," Heller, R-Nevada said. "It's going to be a lot of work but this is the opportunity to talk to Nevadans and get their feel on topics."
Tarkanian is a supporter of Trump's "America First" agenda, including policies on immigration and taxes. Populist, right-wing conservatives like Steve Bannon endorse him.
"I was going to run for congress where I lost by one percent in the last race, but because I had all that encouragement and pleading and requests from people, I made the decision that this was the best thing to do," Tarkanian said.
Tarkanian has unsuccessfully run for office several times, including a 2010 bid for Senate. Sharron Angle eventually won the republican nomination but lost to democratic incumbent Senator Harry Reid in the general election.
"I don't believe Dean Heller has true convictions in the positions that he takes, and I think you see that because he flip-flops on so many important key issues depending on which constituency he's in."
"He's run seven times, lost five, backed out of one and this is his seventh try," Heller said. "If I can define him as a candidate, he's the worst politician in the nation."
Heller says primary elections are always difficult but says he gives the republicans the best chance to retain his senate seat in a purple state that mostly voted democratic in 2016.
"In a state where Trump can't win, and Romney can't win and Joe Heck can't win, you know that it's always going to be difficult," Heller said. "Frankly, I'm one of the few republicans that can."
Tarkanian says he can challenge Heller as long as he has enough funding for his campaign.
"I have very strong convictions for what I believe in, and I believe in Trump's 'American First' agenda, and I have the courage to stand by those votes," Tarkanian said.
The candidates have some things in common, but they have differences in other things. When it comes to health care, both want to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
"I understand how bad Obamacare is, and it isn't because we don't cover enough people under Medicaid," Tarkanian said. "The problem with the Affordable Care Act is it just isn't affordable for the people that pay it themselves, middle class, hard-working Americans who don't get federal subsidies like myself. My insurance has gone up 300 percent. My deductible is 650 percent. Copay to see a specialist has gone up 500 percent. How can middle class Americans still afford that?"
Heller is still hopeful that a bill that he co-sponsored will gain traction. The plan would give federal funding to states in block grants for them to form their own health care plan.
"When we find the 50th vote, we will be talking about this, but this repeal and replace piece of legislation is the best that we have out there," Heller said. "One size fits all doesn't work in Washington, DC. Let's give it to the states. It's a states' rights issue. Let's give it to the states and let them solve their problems."
The Las Vegas shooting has brought gun control legislation to the forefront, once again. Heller says he will listen to legislation that would ban the bump stock, but other control legislation would be a hard sell.
"I'm not interested in watering down the Second Amendment," Heller said. "I'll leave that to my primary opponent. He's already said that congress hasn't gone far enough on gun control."
When it comes to regulations that could prevent the Las Vegas shooting, both have the same belief.
"If anybody can show us gun regulations that would eliminate or minimize these type of atrocities, tragedies, I would certainly be open to that dialogue and find solutions for that," Tarkanian said.
"What is the law that would stop that from occurring?" Heller said. "That's the law I will advocate for."
The republican candidates seem to have the same stance on improving Veterans Affairs. Heller says the VA health care system is much better than it was just a few years ago, but that it can still do better.
"It remains to be a priority of mine to make sure all our veterans, male and female, get the benefits and the health care that they've earned and deserve," Heller said.
"What is wrong with our country that we're going to allow them to be neglected like they are because of some bureaucracies?" Tarkanian said. "We need to get rid of people that aren't performing their duties right. We need to provide as much funding as is necessary for them. The people that need and deserve the support of the American government the most are our veterans."
Former Senator Harry Reid fought for more than two decades to keep Yucca Mountain from opening in the southern Nevada desert. Tarkanian says it is time to take a fresh look at the project, while Heller says he is carrying the torch now that Reid is out of office.
"We should turn Yucca Mountain into a reprocessing facility, not storage facility, reprocessing facility of the nuclear-spent fuel," Tarkanian said. "We would solve our huge risks that we have in this country."
"The committees that I sit on, I can stop it," Heller said. "The seniority I have, I can stop it. The relationship that I have with my colleagues, I can stop it, and I will stop it."
President Donald Trump is asking congress to cut taxes. Part of that includes eliminating tax deductions for many things other than mortgages and charitable giving.
"What I really like, and this is what President Trump doesn't get enough support on. He wants to eliminate all these special deductions that are given to the powerful, wealthy and influential, the people that have the money that goes into Washington, D.C."
Both candidates say they like the idea of Trump's plan, but there is still a lot to discuss. Heller is going to New York, Monday, where a handful of democrats and republicans will discuss tax reform. He will meet with the president about it, Wednesday.
"We want to be competitive, but not only be competitive," Heller said. "We want to create jobs, and we want wages to go up, and I think we have a tax package that does exactly that."
Tarkanian says the plan is similar to the Reagan era tax cuts in the 1980s.
"Maybe we should go back and give that one a shot again, but we tried President Obama's for the past eight years, and all we did was see the deficit go from 10 trillion to 20 trillion," Tarkanian said. "That's not the answer."
The primary election is set for June 12.
