Political rookies dominate all-Democrat field seeking open Reno seat in state Assembly Fresh faces among Assembly District 24's progressive primary picks

James DeHaven | Reno Gazette-Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Nevada primary election votes pouring into Washoe County Registrar of Voters Votes are brought to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters on Tuesday, primary election day in Nevada.

Democratic primary election voters will soon pick between four relative campaign newcomers in state Assembly District 24, which covers much of downtown Reno west of I-580.

No Republicans filed for the seat left up for grabs after Assemblywoman Amber Joiner, D-Reno, announced she would not seek re-election. That means voters in next month's primary will have the final say on who represents the heavily Democratic district.

Ex-Department of Taxation chief Deonne Contine — lead architect of the state’s oft-praised regulatory system for recreational marijuana — joined the contest in late January. She’s received plenty of financial support from the burgeoning pot businesses she once watchdogged as a state regulator.

Contine, who twice caucused for Hillary Clinton, has also won support from Joiner, alongside endorsements from Emily’s List, a national pro-choice political action committee, and SEIU Nevada Local 1107, the state’s largest health care union.

Tom Stewart, a 37-year Reno resident and self-described “Berniecrat,” was first to throw his hat in the ring. The longtime Wells Avenue businessman’s economic development-focused campaign has picked up steam with endorsements from Democratic heavy hitters such as former Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, former state Sen. Sheila Leslie and Reno City Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus.

Edward Coleman, an administrator at the state Department of Agriculture, is building his first bid for public office on a pro-labor platform, telling the Reno Gazette Journal that it was past time to scrap the state’s right-to-work law and bolster worker protections regarding employer-provided scheduling and sick leave.

UNR-educated environmental engineer Sarah Peters is running her inaugural campaign with an environmentally friendly focus on protecting Nevada’s natural resources and advancing renewable energy initiatives.

Peters has worked extensively on the Yerington Paiute tribe’s long-running fight over the cleanup of mine pollutants in and around tribal lands. If elected, she said she would look to translate that experience into building a better relationship between tribal and state authorities. Peters has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Nevada Conservation League and the Nevada AFL-CIO, among others.

Contine holds a healthy lead in campaign fundraising, hauling in more than $65,000 —including at least $12,000 from pot entrepreneurs — since the start of 2018.

Campaign disclosures filed this week show Stewart raised more than $27,000, while Peters collected around $16,500. Coleman donated most of the $1,300 so far sent to his campaign.

Early voting for the June 12 primary election, which is open only to registered voters from both major political parties, starts on May 26. Before voters head to the polls, here’s where the candidates stand on the state’s marquee issues.

Guns

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt has said there’s nothing he can do to legally enforce Question 1 — a long-stalled statewide expansion of gun background checks first approved by voters in 2016 — explaining his hands are tied by the FBI’s refusal to carry out additional checks specified under the measure.

All four Democrats seeking the party’s nomination in Assembly District 24 agreed the voter-approved check initiative should be enforced anyway.

Coleman, Contine and Peters went a step further, offering their support for limiting access to military-style assault weapons. All agreed that Nevada municipalities should be allowed to ban firearm bump stocks.

Education

Each of the Democratic hopefuls support the state’s commerce tax, a key part of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s sweeping, multimillion-dollar 2015 education reforms.

All said private schools should not receive more public funding. They would prefer to reinvest in public schools and said they would consider revising the state's existing funding formula.

Contine, Stewart and Peters pointed to recreational marijuana taxes as one possible source of earmarked revenue for state schools.

Economic development

Nevada has doled out billions of dollars in economic development incentives in recent years, including a $1.3 billion package of tax breaks for Tesla’s behemoth Gigafactory in Storey County.

Stewart hopes to help flip the state’s current approach to economic development on its head. He said the elaborate mesh of tax incentives that helped lure Tesla and other corporate giants to the region needs to be retooled to better serve mom-and-pop businesses such as his own health supplement shop.

Contine took a much more cautious view, saying only that the state's economic development efforts should be should be "analyzed over time to determine if they are serving the intended goal or need to be restructured to continue to meet the needs of our communities." Coleman said the state's economic development tools should be used only in limited instances for large corporations.

Peters said Nevada needs to be more careful with corporate subsidies. With the economy on an upswing, she said the state should focus more attention on supporting local business, workers and families.

Affordable housing

Northern Nevadans are facing skyrocketing rents and a rapidly rising homeless population fed by a growing shortage of low-income housing units.

Coleman was the only one of District 24's contenders to endorse rent control as a possible cure for what ails the region's housing market. He also suggested a new tax on large corporations aimed in part at helping to house Nevadans.

Contine and Coleman said Nevada should, at a minimum, spend more of its own money to add to the state’s low-income housing stock.

Peters added that some of the money officials handed out to lure large corporations might have been better used to address housing concerns.

Health care

Contine said she hopes to help revive a Medicaid buy-in bill, vetoed last year by Gov. Brian Sandoval, that would’ve opened up the low-income health care plan to all Nevadans regardless of tax bracket. Stewart said he too would like to see the issue resurface at the 2019 Legislature.

Contine did not directly answer a question about whether abortions should always be made legally available, but said her support for a woman’s right to choose remains “unwavering.” Stewart, Coleman and Peters agreed there should be no restrictions on the procedure.

All four support of federally legalized pot, a single-payer health care system and continued federal funding for Planned Parenthood. All four spoke out against imposing additional work requirements on Medicaid recipients.

Immigration

Each opposed President Donald Trump's border wall, as well as a suggested statewide ban on sanctuary cities.

Stewart and Coleman said legal status should be granted to those brought to the U.S. illegally as children. They said the government should only deport those who have committed a serious crime.

Contine said the federal government should find a “meaningful pathway to citizenship through comprehensive immigration reform.” Peters said every undocumented immigrant should have a chance to address their legal status in the U.S.

Yucca Mountain and public lands

The Democratic hopefuls near-unanimously agreed nuclear materials should not be stored or reprocessed at Yucca Mountain, the long-stalled nuclear waste dump about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas

All but Peters, the environmental engineer, expressly opposed shipping waste to Yucca. Peters said waste is already being stored at the site. The only question, she added, was how Nevadans should go about protecting themselves from exposure.

She and her primary opponents agreed the federal government should not cede control over the 50 million acres of land it owns in the state.

MeToo movement

Policies surrounding sexual misconduct have moved to the political foreground since the start of the #MeToo movement, a social media-driven wave of support for thousands of victims who came forward with sexual misconduct allegations that rocked Hollywood, the media and politics.

All four of District 24's Democrats felt the government could do more to address sexual harassment claims.

Stewart suggested banning the use of non-disclosure agreements to encourage harassment reporting. Coleman proposed giving government investigators more tools to help dig into misconduct allegations.

Contine said she supported the Legislature’s passage of a resolution establishing a reporting system to house complaints against legislators or lobbyists.

Peters agreed Nevada lawmakers’ recent headway on the issue counted as a good start toward addressing such claims. She suggested an independent, non-governmental commission might help the state address complaints.