Interviews with 6 Democratic candidates vying to run for Nevada's CD2

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Headed into the 2020 election, CD2 is the only congressional district of Nevada’s four not currently held by a Democrat. A Democrat has never held the congressional seat that encompasses the entire northern half of Nevada.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 primary election scheduled for June 9 will be conducted entirely by paper ballot. Early voting begins May 23 and ends June 5. All active registered voters in Nevada will be mailed an absentee ballot for the primary election.

According to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, no action or steps, such as submitting an absentee ballot request application, will be required by individual voters in order to receive a ballot in the mail. Voters will be able to mark their ballot at home and then return it by mail using a postage-prepaid envelope or by dropping it off in person at a designated county location. This announcement applies only to the June 9, 2020 primary election.

In CD2, five-term incumbent Republican Mark Amodei faces a primary challenge from Joel Beck and Jesse Douglas Hurley.

Richard Dunn is running as an Independent. Janine Hansen is running as the Independent American candidate.

The following interviews were recorded just before the onset of the COVID-19 emergency. Candidates are presented in alphabetical order. We have yet to record an interview with CD2 hopeful Reynaldo Hernandez, but if we do, we will update this page.

To learn more about each candidate, along with interview audio, a link to each of their websites is provided.

Patricia Ackerman

Ed Cohen

Clint Koble

Ian Luetkehans

Steve Schiffman

Rick Shepherd

Data from the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office – graph: The Ally

CD2 History

The closest a Democrat has come to winning the district was in 1992 when Democrat Pete Sferazza lost to four-term incumbent Republican Barbara Vuchanovich 48 to 43 percent. Vuchanovich outspent Sferazza by a 3 to 1 margin.

The closest a Democrat has come to beating the Republican for CD 2 was in 1992 when Democrat Pete Sferazza narrowly lost to four term incumbent Republican Barbara Vuchanovich 48 to 43 percent of the vote – image – The Ally.

2006 marks the second most successful attempt by a Democrat to win CD2 when Jill Derby lost to Dean Heller 50 to 45 percent. Derby’s 2006 campaign is the high-water mark for corporate/union funding for the Democratic candidate in the history of CD2. Both Heller and Derby raised a little over 1.5 million dollars each.