Having lived in Elko, Beatty, Lovelock, Eureka, and now Sparks, my husband, Tim Arnold, and I know and love rural Nevada. With Tim’s extensive experience in the mining industry and my advocacy for mining, ranching, logging, and public land users, we are deeply concerned about who becomes the next congressman from Northern Nevada’s Congressional District 2, which includes 11 of Nevada’s 17 counties.
CD2 needs a representative who truly knows Nevada and understands the industries that rural communities depend on — mining, farming, and ranching. It does not need someone who discovered Reno only after an open congressional seat became available.
James Settelmeyer is a fourth-generation Nevadan, a rancher, a former State Senate Republican Leader, and a former director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He has spent his life fighting for rural Nevada, its economy, its water rights, its land, and its conservative values. No one else in this primary is better qualified to defend ranching families, miners, farmers, and small business owners across the 11 counties he would represent.
That matters.
Nevada is not Washington, D.C., and rural Nevada is certainly not Las Vegas.
James has worked on his family’s ranch his entire life, and throughout his public service career, he has also worked alongside Nevada’s second-largest industry, mining. Of the candidates in this primary, he best understands what drives Nevada’s economy. He has direct experience with grazing rights, public and private land management, and the federal laws that miners, ranchers, and other land users must navigate just to obtain permits and stay in operation.
At a time when mining is surging in Nevada and cattle producers are under pressure from historically low prices paid by meatpackers, it is more important than ever to elect someone qualified to succeed retiring Congressman Mark Amodei.
We need a congressman who can step in immediately, not someone who must start from scratch learning what NEPA, FLPMA, ESA, SDWA, CWA, CAA, and TGA mean or how those laws affect all 11 counties in the district. He also has years of experience dealing with the complexities of Western water law and water rights. He has longstanding relationships with the BLM, the Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Defense, and many other state and federal agencies that affect the daily lives of Nevadans.
You cannot fake that kind of experience.
After 16 years in the Legislature, Governor Joe Lombardo selected James to lead Nevada’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources because he knew James had the knowledge, integrity, and leadership skills to protect Nevada’s future.
James also has a proven conservative record.
As Senate Republican Leader, he fought Governor Sisolak and legislative Democrats after they pushed through unconstitutional tax increases without the required two-thirds vote. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed. More than $112 million was ultimately returned to Nevada taxpayers.
That is real conservative leadership.
James believes in secure borders, fiscal responsibility, limited government, local control, and protecting the freedoms that built this country. He understands that Washington already spends too much, regulates too much, and interferes too much in the lives of hardworking Americans.
Recently, political attacks have tried to distort James’ legislative record by taking a handful of votes out of context from the more than 5,000 bills considered during his 16 years in office.
One example involves the 2013 driver authorization card bill.
Critics falsely claim James supported “driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.” That is simply not true.
The legislation was backed by law enforcement to address a growing public safety problem involving uninsured drivers causing accidents across Nevada. Under state law, people could not obtain insurance without legal driving authorization. After the bill passed, the uninsured motorist rate dropped by half. Innocent victims were able to seek justice.
Just as important, more than 900 criminal illegal immigrants were identified and taken into custody after appearing at DMV offices to apply for driving authorization cards.
That is the full story.
But the biggest issue in this race may be representation.
James Settelmeyer is rooted in rural Nevada; his opponent is not. His main opponent originally launched a congressional campaign in Las Vegas before switching to Northern Nevada as soon as this seat opened.
Federal law allows someone to run in a district where they do not live, but voters have every right to ask a simple question: Who actually knows Northern Nevada?
If James loses, every member of Nevada’s congressional delegation will live in Southern Nevada, not in one of the 11 counties in Congressional District 2.
Who will speak for ranchers?
Who will fight for mining?
Who will defend Nevada water rights?
Who will understand the challenges facing rural communities?
Northern Nevada deserves its own voice in Congress. And for the first time in a long, long time, we deserve to have a rancher in that seat.
James Settelmeyer has spent his life earning the trust of Nevada families, farmers, ranchers, miners, and small business owners. He is a proven conservative, a proven leader, and, above all, a real Nevadan.
Northern Nevada needs James Settelmeyer in Congress.
Tim Arnold is a retired Chief Operating Officer of Integra Resources and a former President of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. Liz Arnold is a mining and resources industries advocate and consultant, providing community outreach services to mining companies. She is a member of the Women's Mining Coalition.
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