2012 PRIMARY ELECTION: ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 35

The race in Assembly District 35, which includes Las Vegas' southwest suburbs, features Republicans Thomas Blanchard and Adam Cegavske and Democrats James Healey and Nathan Sosa.

The winners of both primaries will face off in the Nov. 6 general election.

REPUBLICANS

Blanchard served in the Navy before moving to Nevada in 1998 to work as a paramedic.

Although Blanchard has little to no formal political experience, during the 2011 legislative session he told the Review-Journal he supported a bill by Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, that would have made it a felony for the occupant to damage a home known to be in foreclosure.

Blanchard said he doesn't support any tax increases and questions why Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has already stated he would extend temporary sales and business taxes for another two years to avoid cuts to education and social services.

"Unfortunately I've never seen a temporary tax be temporary," Blanchard said.

He said he would like to see more of the state's education budget reach the classroom instead of being "siphoned off at the administrative level."

Although he opposes tax increases, Blanchard said he favors spending government money to support new and growing businesses in the state.

Cegavske is 19 years younger than Blanchard but has significant experience in Carson City. His mother is Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, a longtime legislator and staunch conservative.

The younger Cegavske said he has been going to legislative sessions since he was a child and was a legislative intern as an adult.

Like Blanchard, Cegavske opposes Sandoval's support for continuing the temporary taxes and said lowering taxes would improve the business climate.

Cegavske said schools should do a better job preparing non-college-bound students with programs to help them break into hospitality and other major industries in Nevada.

"I think we need to prepare our kids to not only be ready to enter college, but be ready to enter the workforce," he said. "Every school should have at least one program."

DEMOCRATS

Although Healey hasn't run for political office before, he has volunteer experience with major Democratic campaigns in Nevada and has support from the Assembly Democratic Caucus.

Healey said he would consider a broad-based business tax.

"I would certainly be open to exploring tax increases that will move Nevada forward," he said.

Healey also wants to find more stable revenue for schools, which need to show improved performance for the state to succeed.

"We absolutely are the lowest. We need to not focus on cuts, rather, focus on finding revenue streams, particularly sustainable revenue streams," Healey said.

Sosa was raised in Las Vegas and attended the University Nevada, Las Vegas for undergraduate and law school.

He is chairman of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee in Mountain's Edge and has fought to pressure the developer of the community to make good on promises to build parks, trails and other amenities.

Sosa said he would support major reforms at the state level.

"I think we need to reform the tax code, absolutely. Whether that raises taxes or not, I don't know," Sosa said. "Relying solely on gaming and sales tax is unworkable."

He also said Sandoval is "attempting to punt" by extending the temporary taxes rather than discussing ways to reform the entire tax system.

"I think that he did that primarily to avoid having a substantive discussion on our state taxation system," Sosa said.

Sosa said he supports spending more on teacher pay, school supplies, textbooks and building safety.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com.