<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655243375477,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655243375477,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017f-e2f4-de00-a7ff-e7fff8030000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55150237", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"907443"} }); ","_id":"00000181-5ea4-d590-a5f1-deb77e1f0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedSam Peters holds a healthy lead in the Republican primary fight for a swing suburban Nevada House seat, setting the stage for a November matchup against Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford.
Republicans believe the odds are in their favor in Nevada this year and are looking at Tuesday’s primary wins as the first step toward a fall sweep. House Republicans need to net five seats in the 435-member chamber to win back the majority they lost in 2018.
With 67% of ballots counted in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, Peters had 48% of the vote, compared to 41.1% for Annie Black. Another GOP candidate, Chance Bonaventura, lagged with 10.9% of the vote.
Peters, an Air Force veteran and insurance firm owner, pitched himself as a pro-Donald Trump conservative and ardent supporter of the former president. Peters lost a House Republican primary bid in 2020. In Tuesday’s contest, Peters cited illegal immigration and border security as the primary factors for seeking the seat.
“Enough is enough,” Peters said.
If elected in November, Peters said he would vote to strengthen security at the U.S.-Mexico border by continuing to build Trump’s border wall. He’d also push for more money to increase border enforcement.
Black was among several GOP candidates across the country who were at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, though she did not enter the U.S. Capitol. She has made a name for herself by repeatedly arguing that President Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election and that the true victor was Trump.
“Democrats in the Nevada Legislature selected [Biden] by changing the voting rules just 90 days before the election,” Black said in a campaign newsletter. “And that doesn’t even count all the shenanigans that have been exposed about rubber-gloved ballot trafficking ‘mules’ who stuffed ballot boxes in the dead of night!”
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Black, who represents District 19 in the state General Assembly, made headlines during the 2021 session for refusing to wear a mask in the legislative building.
“A stand I took that I think people can associate with because a lot of people lost their jobs and were kicked out of the military,” the Nevada native said.
She has faulted Democrats and the Biden administration for soaring inflation and claimed their politics are what pushed her to run for Congress.
Bonaventura, chief of staff to Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, said he decided to run for Congress rather than local government due to federal mask requirements and other mandates that he claimed hurt small businesses. He also said he was fed up with federal politics on housing and public land use. The federal government owns more than 81% of the land in Nevada. Las Vegas and rural communities are limited in how they can grow.
Tuesday’s primary race featured the smallest list of candidates of any congressional race in Nevada. Two years ago, eight Republicans, six Democrats, and two non-majority party candidates vied for the spot.
Incumbent Rep. Horsford, who had served as majority leader in the state Senate, won the seat in 2012, becoming Nevada’s first black member of Congress. He lost his seat in the 2014 Republican wave. Democrat Ruben Kihuen won it back in 2016 but bowed out of another term following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Horsford ran for the seat in 2018 and won. He was reelected in 2020.
Since then, Horsford, who ran unopposed in his primary, has been attacked by Republicans questioning his values. He has admitted to carrying on a long-standing affair with a former intern for Sen. Harry Reid. The woman, who goes by the pseudonym “Love Jones,” began sharing her story on the Mistress for Congress podcast. She has also shared a screenshot of a message between her and Horsford dating back to 2018.
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Reid died in December 2021 after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
The House district is among three in Nevada that Republicans are trying to snag from Democrats.
