Mesquite, Nevada (CNN) Rand Paul argued Monday that public lands run by the federal government should be handed over to state or local control, making a crowd-pleasing rally cry in Nevada where 67% of the state is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

Sitting in that audience was Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who became a national figure last year after staging a standoff with the feds over a BLM dispute.

"I'd either sell or turn over all the land management to the states," Paul, a Republican presidential candidate and senator from Kentucky, said, landing him big applause at a campaign event. "I don't think the federal government needs to be involved."

On the third leg of a four-stop tour across the early caucus state, Paul made his comments at the Eureka casino in Mesquite in Southeast Nevada -- not far from Bundy's home.

Paul said Washington has become a "bully" that often goes too far in the regulation of both public and private land.