Paul Reeves: Democratic Candidate for Nevada’s Congressional District #2

Paul Reeves, a resident of Pahrump, active member of the Pahrump Valley Democratic Party Meetup, has announced his candidacy for election to the House of Representatives from Nevada’s Congressional District #2.

You can learn about Reeves on the Democracy for America website. His biographical information on that site discloses the following:

Background:

I was born in Detroit, but my family was from small towns in Michigan. My father was in the military, so I grew up living and moving around the country. When I left home, I continued to be a wander, until I moved to Nevada and put down roots here.
I currently work behind the scenes on concert tours, which takes me around the country (and the world) working with union members and everyday Americans, building difficult and complex projects on tight schedule. I spend my free time on outdoor actives such hiking, photography, and sky diving, and as a volunteer and activist in local political issues.

Goals:

I am running, because I was asked to by members of my community. I was not looking for the job, but the job came looking for me. America no longer has time for “business as usual” in politics. There are too many critical issues that require long term solutions that need to be implemented now. Quick fixes are not acceptable any more.
So, my goals are to participate in creating long-term solutions for economic diversity and stability, banking regulation, energy efficiency and independence, global warming and climate change, and quality of life issues such as health care and education.

Issues:

The Economy, Energy, and Education. These three issues are intrinsically linked, and critical to both Nevada and the nation. Developing green jobs and alternative energy will put us firmly back in place as global leaders, but we need a strong and proactive educational system (from pre-school through grad school) to promote research into those high-tech fields and create a workforce that can fill those jobs.

Grassroots Support:

Grassroots organizing is a critical component of my campaign. This is a “bottom-up” effort that originated here in the local community. My selection as a candidate was based on my involvement in grassroots efforts both on local issues and the Obama campaign. Currently, we are building the campaign as a grassroots project: rather than relying only on the traditional campaign tools of public, speaking, and debate, we are training a network of volunteers to go out and act as activists in their communities.
This is starting now, in a campaign office run out of my home office until we have the funding for a proper one. The first big push will be to train volunteers to go out and educate others in their communities about available resources for mortgage assistance. Nevada leads the nation in both mortgage foreclosures and foreclosure assistance scams. Using the grassroots principles of networking, voter education, and providing access to good information will be a key strategy for working on this problem.
Many candidates makes promises about what they are going to do after they get elected — it is my intention to lead by example and take progressive action on important issues before I get the job.

DFA Values:

As mentioned above, the entire campaign is based on grassroots action. This really is a bottom-up effort. None of us are political professionals (yet), and we are putting this together in what little spare time we have between our day jobs.
As far as fiscal responsibility goes, we haven’t spent a single cent of anyone else’s money yet. Up to this point everything has been about activism and networking. When we do begin taking campaign contributions, we will be proactive about disclosing campaign finances and educating voters about the available resources to check on both myself and other political candidates.

Persons interested in Mr. Reeves campaign can access the Democracy for America site to learn more and add their support for his candidacy.

So far as I know the only other Democratic candidate or potential candidate for Congressional District #4 is Cindy Olivas Trigg. The Republican incumbent is Dean Heller.

Heller defeated University of Nevada Regent and Democratic candidate Jill Derby in last November’s general election by 5 percent [1]. Heller lost Washoe County, home to Reno and by far the largest county in the district (it casts more than 70 percent of the district’s vote). However, he won most of the rural areas of the district by margins of 2-to-1 or more, allowing him to win the district by 12,600 votes. Heller was almost certainly helped by the presence of Gibbons atop the ballot; Gibbons carried the 2nd by a landslide margin in his successful gubernatorial bid. [Wikipedia]

Nevada’s second Congressional District is geographically huge. The last Presidential election resulted in significant gains in Democratic voter registration gains on the Republican Party. According to the figures of the Nevada Secretary of State, the picture of “active” (active=people that actually vote) voter registration in District #2 is as follows, as of March 2009:

It is obvious that there are more people in District #2 registered as Republicans than as Democrats. In fact there are 22,522 more registered as Republicans than Democrats, and that doesn’t take into account the numbers registered in the remaining parties.

Any Democrat has a steep hill to climb to win an election in District #2. It will take a lot of money, time
, and support for a Democrat to succeed.

Indeed, it will take significant effort to win the Democratic Primary since Reeves will have to defeat Cindy Trigg to reach the General ballot. Neither will be able to gain the support of the Nevada State Democratic Party or any of the County Parties active support during the primary election since they are required to remain neutral until a Democratic nominee is selected in the Primary election.

I’m unaware that Dean Heller has any opposition within the Republican Party, thus he will get a free ride into the General election, meaning he has to spend no time, money or effort during the Primary phase of the election, while both Trigg and Reese.

It takes a lot of guts and stamina to run for an elective office, particularly in an area the size of Congressional District #2.

Related posts:

1. Jack Schofield–Democratic candidate for Congressional District #2
2. Interview of Mr. Paul Reeves – Candidate for Congress, Nevada District 2
3. Cindy Trigg opens campaign for Nevada District #2
4. Paul Reeves for Congress site is now up
5. Paul Reeves for Congress