Nevada’s independent, minor party candidates face long odds

CARSON CITY — They are long shots and underdogs in name recognition and fundraising. Minor party and independent candidates face tough odds in the upcoming election.

They know it, mostly, but that doesn’t deter their ambition or resolve.

No third-party or unaffiliated candidate has won a seat in the state Legislature or other higher Nevada office in recent memory. Still, they file and run, knowing they likely will not be hosting a victory party come election night.

“I don’t know if they expect to win or not,” said John Wagner, an Independent American Party candidate for Assembly District 40 that includes Nevada’s capital city.

“I don’t have any illusions of winning here in Carson City.”

For some the goal is to keep their message alive. Others run because they’re fed up with the two-party political machine.

“My campaign was going to be against the incumbent. But since he lost in the primary, I feel pretty good,” Wagner said.

Wagner, who has run for office about a half-dozen times in Nevada, said he filed to challenge incumbent Republican Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill. But O’Neill, who drew the wrath of conservatives for his support of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s record $1.5 million tax package in 2015, lost in the June GOP primary to Al Kramer.

“He’s a good man, so I’m pretty content not to win,” Wagner said the GOP nominee. A former Republican, Wagner supported Ron Paul’s 2008 failed presidential bid and switched parties after the ugly state GOP convention that year.

Not counting presidential candidates, there are 11 Libertarian, eight Independent American Party and seven candidates who list no party affiliation running for various state and federal offices in Nevada this election.

A DARK HORSE FOR CONGRESS

Drew Knight is one of them. He’s seeking Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District seat now held by Republican Rep. Mark Amodei. Knight lists no party affiliation.

“I am a high school dropout and a college graduate. I am a world traveler and an adventurer. I have had dozens of jobs in the construction trades, the restaurant business and medical fields,” Knight says on his campaign website.

“I am not a lawyer, a successful business person or the pillar of any community. I fully expect to be the ignored underdog as I begin my public fight against the unjust and corrupt policies that marginalize and imprison so many Americans.”

Knight, in a telephone interview, said he initially intended to run for president. But when Bernie Sanders, whom he supports, launched his presidential bid, Knight opted to run for Congress instead.

“I’m the only one out there actually meeting people and not making phone calls,” he said.

He said the reception he has received is “overwhelmingly great.”

“People are fed up with the two-party system,” he said.

OTHER LEGISLATIVE RACES

Jonathan Friedrich is running as a Libertarian for the Senate District 3 seat in Las Vegas held by Democratic state Sen. Tick Segerblom. He says he’s in it to win.

“I’m looking forward to being elected,” Friedrich said.

Friedrich, a fierce critic of homeowner associations, also has run before — as a Democrat. He said he switched affiliations after the 2014 election when the Democratic Party endorsed one of his primary opponents in Assembly District 10, after he said the party initially indicated it would remain neutral in the nominating contest.

“They were not true to their own words. They lied,” Friedrich said. “That is why I decided a change was needed. If you won’t keep your word, I don’t want to deal with you.”

Segerblom has outraised Friedrich in campaign donations by 9-to-1 this year. Friedrich reported $10,000 through the June 9 reporting period to Segerblom’s $90,000. The Republican candidate, Dennis Palmerston, reported $100.

But Friedrich isn’t giving up.

“I will be doing a mailer,” he said. “And now that the heat is almost over, I’ll be out there ringing doorbells.”

Friedrich also believes in miracles, noting the unlikely election two years ago of Assemblywoman Shelly Shelton, a Republican who won in an overwhelmingly Democratic district when voter turnout tanked and the GOP swept the state Senate, Assembly and all constitutional offices.

“That was a miracle,” Friedrich said. “Why can’t two miracles happen?”

Dennis Hof, the Libertarian candidate for Assembly District 36, has name recognition. The owner of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch brothel and reality television star is running against the heavily financed incumbent, Assemblyman James Oscarson, R-Pahrump.

Assemblyman John Moore is the only incumbent minor-party candidate on the November ballot. But he wasn’t a Libertarian when he was elected in 2014 to the southwest Las Vegas Valley seat. He was a Republican. He switched affiliation in January.

Moore clashed with the Assembly Republican caucus leadership early in the 2015 session when he refused to support a school bond bill that included a provision about prevailing wages.

He filed a complaint with legislative police after a heated altercation in a stairwell with Majority Leader Paul Anderson, R-Las Vegas. The two later issued a joint statement burying the hatchet, saying their emotions got the better of them.

Moore said political arm twisting soured him.

“I was pretty dissatisfied with the way the session went during 2015,” Moore said. “I kind of felt it’s about the people you represent, not our individual desires and opinions.”

Moore said he learned a lot in that session.

“I may have aligned myself with people I shouldn’t have,” Moore said. Now, he wants to work across the aisle.

“I really don’t fall within any one group,” he said. “I want to work with everyone.

“I decided the Libertarian Party allowed me to be in the middle, not pander to any one party.”

Moore is doing better than most in campaign fundraising, reporting about $56,000 in the last disclosure filing, though most of it is rolled over from his last campaign.

“Being an incumbent has its benefits,” he conceded. And he also acknowledged his victory in the 2014 GOP “red wave” election was not anticipated.

“In 2014 … I wasn’t even supposed to be elected,” Moore said. “There was a lot of luck involved.”

He’s counting on some luck and voter sentiment this November.

“I do think the time is right,” Moore said. “If there’s ever a time when a third party could get re-elected or elected to office, this could be the cycle.”

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3821. Follow @SandraChereb on Twitter.