What you need to know about Nevada's most contested congressional race

Jessica Hill, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Oct 10, 2024

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LAS VEGAS — Challengers are hoping to upset longtime incumbents in Nevada’s four congressional districts, though doing so is an uphill battle.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, Republican Rep. Mark Amodei in the 2nd Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in the 3rd Congressional District and Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford in the 4th Congressional District are all up for re-election.

Their opponents are Republican Mark Robertson, nonpartisan Greg Kidd, Republican Drew Johnson and former North Las Vegas Mayor and Republican John Lee, respectively.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political analysis newsletter, only rates one of the races as competitive: Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, where Lee is facing Johnson, a conservative policy analyst and columnist. The report, however, lists Lee as having the advantage.

Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District

Lee has served Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District — covering parts of Summerlin, Red Rock, Spring Valley and the tip of Southern Nevada — since 2019. Originally from Canton, Ohio, Lee moved in 1993 to Las Vegas, where she worked in the education non-profit space.

She was ranked No. 12 among 20 Democratic representatives who broke ranks with their party the most often, and she serves as vice chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

Johnson, born in Tennessee, has lived in Southern Nevada for around a decade. He established the Beacon Center, a public policy think tank, and worked at several different organizations where he researched government transparency, tax, budget, transportation, energy and international policy issues, according to his answers to the Review-Journal’s voter guide.

Lee and Johnson both agree the cost of living is the most important issue to Southern Nevadans, according to the Review-Journal’s voter guide.

Lee touted her efforts to lower prices, like capping the cost of insulin for seniors on Medicare, and her bipartisan bill that was endorsed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to cut red tape to speed up affordable housing projects.

Johnson said he would work as a government watchdog to eliminate government waste, prioritize spending and reduce debt. He will also work to expand oil and gas production in an environmentally responsible way in order to drive down prices.

On housing, Lee wants to speed up affordable housing projects on public lands, crack down on corporate landlords who are increasing housing prices, and continue to secure investments in affordable housing projects. Johnson said he would work with members of Congress and the Bureau of Land Management to release more federal land for housing while ensuring land is protected for natural resource conservation.

Both of the candidates disagree with their party on certain issues. For Johnson, those topics are abortions and tariffs. He said he opposes a federal abortion ban and believes in bodily autonomy. He also opposes Republicans’ proposals for tariffs, which he said are “functionally a sales tax that Americans pay for goods.”

Lee opposed her party’s decision to end Title 42, a Trump Administration policy that Lee said allowed U.S. authorities to support border security and expel migrants quickly when necessary.

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