For the first time since 2011, a new face will represent Nevada Congressional District 2 after this year's midterm elections.
Mark Amodei, who gained the seat 15 years ago in a special election, announced his retirement on Friday.
"We just kind of evaluated all that and said this might be a good time for passing the torch," Amodei said.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview with 2 News Nevada, the longtime Representative said he made the announcement now to give candidates time to file, and because this year is between presidential elections.
"Letting this campaign occur when it's not in a presidential election year, I think is a valuable thing for the voters of Nevada," Amodei said.
One of Amodei's biggest efforts the past few years is his lands bill.
the legislation would transfer ownership of thousands of acres of federal land across northern Nevada. He said it's necessary for the growth of communities.
"There's not a single community in the state that isn't completely surrounded by federal lands," he said, "from Las Vegas to Winnemucca, you name it."
Last year, the lands bill was removed from the Big Beautiful Bill. Amodei said he met with House Speaker Mike Johnson in the last two weeks and hopes to get the bill on the house floor soon.
"We're looking forward to getting it out of there within the next 30 days so that we can get over the Senate and go to work on that," Amodei said, "because December 31st, everything turns into a pumpkin."
Amodei currently serves as chairman for the Homeland Security appropriations committee. He the ongoing concerns with funding for the Department of Homeland Security did not factor into his decision to retire.
"I take a lot of pride in that this is not some cream puff sort of thing," he said. "It is contentious. It does require more work. We've done that work."
When asked about who should run for Congressional District 2, Amodei told us it should be someone who's willing to represent the whole district.
"It's somebody who needs to be familiar with what's going on in the Truckee Meadows but also have a down, grassroots understanding of the 80 corridor and the 50 corridor. Your Ely's, your Elko's, your Fallon's, your Winnemucca's, your Lovelock's. All those people deserve to be represented," he said.
As of now, Health Fulkerson and Rick Shepherd have already filed for the Republican nomination for CD2. Multiple politicians are lined up for the Democrat side, including Greg Kidd, who ran against Amodei in 2024 as an independent.
You can watch our unedited exclusive interview with Amodei below:
