Ryan Bundy said Thursday he doesn't think other candidates running to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval would properly protect the state liberty.

The 45-year-old Mesquite resident says he intends to file candidacy papers next Wednesday in Las Vegas and embark on a statewide speaking tour.

Federal charges were dropped in January against Bundy, his father Cliven Bundy, and a brother in the gunpoint standoff that stopped a federal roundup of Bundy cattle. A judge cited prosecutorial misconduct.

Ryan Bundy says he's a strict constitutionalist who believes the federal government can only own land in states for limited and specified purposes.

After the Nevada standoff, Ryan Bundy and brother Ammon Bundy led an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.

-- The Associated Press