You may have seen the political ads from independent candidate Greg Kidd, whose campaign has spent over half a million dollars on advertisements in Congressional District 2, encompassing all of northern Nevada. Kidd is challenging the incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Mark Amodei for Nevada's second congressional district.

He has bee involved with numerous entrepreneurial ventures. He holds a commanding stake in a bank, is the co-founder and CEO of Hard Yaka Inc., and works as a venture capitalist. He advocates for fair and open access to digital identification for all citizens, which could help address challenges related to voter ID.

Senator Jacky Rosen endorsed Kidd earlier this week.

"Greg Kidd is a successful entrepreneur and a problem solver who will fight to increase affordable housing, create good-paying jobs, and protect a woman's fundamental right to choose," said Senator Jacky Rosen. "I know that Greg will work across the aisle to get things done for Northern Nevada, and I'd be proud to have him as a partner in Washington as we continue delivering for hardworking Nevada families."

"Senator Rosen is widely respected for her bipartisan leadership in Washington, and I am humbled to have her endorsement in this race," said Kidd. "In Congress, I'll set aside partisanship and get to work addressing Northern Nevada's needs: building more housing people can afford, creating jobs that pay the bills, and protecting our rights."

Where Kidd stands: His top priorities on his website include job growth through solar and mineral wealth, establishing a permanent investment fund from taxing statewide mining revenues, creating a digital ID, and addressing immigration reform at the Southern border.

Kidd's campaign slogan is "free, fair, and wild." He says his team's internal data shows him gaining momentum traction against Congressman Amodei. "I've come up in name recognition. We've looked at the accessible market. My ceiling is actually higher than Mark's because people know what the issues are and where I stand. I actually have access to a big portion of his voting block in the Republican party." 

Kidd's campaign slogan is "free, fair, and wild." He says his team's internal data shows him gaining momentum traction against Congressman Amodei.

As a founder of multiple companies and an angel investor in the original Twitter company, Kidd is a pro-business candidate.

"I've started up my own companies years ago. I took my first company public some 20 years ago but have been involved in building companies. Starting small, ten employees or less, building companies that have exited with thousands of employees; so I'm a job creator," explained Kidd.

Innovative thinker Greg Kidd proposes a statewide tax on all lithium production to establish a permanent investment fund for Nevada. In one of Kidd's campaign ads, he states, "We are sitting on 1.5 trillion dollars' worth of lithium; that's $2 million for every man, woman, and child in our district."

To achieve a closed lithium loop, ensuring that lithium mined in the state serves Nevada-based companies and eventually goes to regional recycling and recovery operations, Kidd suggests that Nevada should implement a lithium tax. This tax would improve the state's living conditions and help attract potential talent in order to fill the jobs required to close the lithium loop. 

"Nevada has gotta put some of the money aside from the lithium coming out of the ground to invest in infrastructure. Upgrading the rails, the roads, the electricity grid, and education. Healthcare. To make it possible to attract talent to do the processing here as well," said Kidd.

Kidd says Congressman Amodei failed Nevadans when he voted against the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, which brought money into the state for developing lithium, funding research grants at the University of Nevada, Reno, and high-speed rails in the state.

"Our opponent, for his 12-year record, has very little to show in terms of legislative accomplishments. And, again, the votes that he has made, if you look at them, they're not aligned with the people, the district, the state, or the country. He may have pleased some people in his party, but look at the types of bills that he has passed. Things that Sandoval, Lombardo, governor, head of the university, republicans, have benefitted from and wanted; my opponents have been on the wrong side of those votes," said Kidd.

We have reached out to Congressman Mark Amodei's office for a response and to schedule an interview.