Assembly District 29

Voters might be familiar with the candidates vying for state Assembly District 29 because they’ve both previously represented the district.

The election marks a rematch from two years ago between incumbent Assemblyman Stephen Silberkraus and former Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen to represent a district within Henderson.

Cohen, an attorney, was appointed to the Assembly in December 2012 to replace April Mastroluca, who resigned for family reasons. Cohen, a Democrat, was unseated two years later by Silberkraus, a Republican who won with 54.8 percent of the vote.

Silberkraus said he opposes Question 1, a state ballot measure that would expand firearm background checks to private-party sales and transfers.

“I think we absolutely need to crack down on crime and violence, but we do that by going after the criminals,” Silberkraus said. “Targeting legal gun sales and legal gun owners is not how we should curb violent crime.”

In contrast, Cohen said she respects the right to own and sell firearms, but supports Question 1 because “this closes the loophole and tries to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who are dangerous.”

District 29 has 38.3 percent Democrats, 35.9 percent Republicans, 19.8 percent nonpartisan, 4.7 percent Independent Americans and 0.8 percent Libertarians, according to 2015 figures from the secretary of state.

Silberkraus, who co-sponsored the bill that led to the Clark County School District’s reorganization, said education will continue to be his top priority during his second term.

Cohen said that if elected she would focus on education, public safety and attracting solar energy companies as a way to create new jobs for the state.

Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.