House - Steven Horsford - NV-4
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- Democrat running for re-election in northern suburbs of Las Vegas and many rural counties north of Las Vegas
- Video clip: “MSNBC interview: Congressman Horsford Advocates for Urgent Passage of Build Back Better Agenda to Deliver for Nevada”
The good news is that Congressman Steven Horsford won his re-election race by 5 percentage points in 2020.
The bad news is that none of the three U.S. House seats held by Democrats in Nevada are considered safe in 2022: “Republicans had won two of the three seats — those held by Horsford and Lee — over the last decade, and all three seats could conceivably flip to the GOP in a wave election.” (“Nevada lawmakers approve maps giving edge to Democrats”, The Hill, 11/17/2021).
Steven's background
Steven Horsford was the first in his family to attend college. In 2012 he became the first-ever African American to represent Nevada in Congress.
Before being elected to Congress, Steven helped lead the state’s largest career training program – at Nevada’s Culinary Academy, a unique partnership between labor and business, where he helped train and place thousands of Nevadans in good-paying jobs in the hospitality industry. He then won a seat in the Nevada Senate and quickly rose to the rank of Senate Majority Leader. In that post he secured passage of the "Clean Energy Jobs Initiative" and positioned Nevada as a leader in renewable energy. He also worked across party lines to navigate Nevada through the recession.
Steven's opponent
Steven’s Republican opponent is Sam Peters, who campaigns as a staunchly pro-Trump conservative. Peters said in a 2020 interview that Trump had done "an incredible job," and that he wanted to see the Affordable Care Act repealed “in its entirety.” A June 2021 New York Times article reported that Peters said he would not have voted to certify the 2020 presidential election results, and added that Peters “said he was not sure that Mr. Biden had legitimately won Nevada, even though In 2021 Peters said Marjorie Taylor Greene “Is amazing. She’s one of those folks like Jim Jordan who is unafraid to speak up and say the right things.” In 2022 Peters said it was a compliment for him to be considered a "male Marjorie Taylor Greene." Peters welcomed the overturning of Roe v Wade and has said that if elected he will introduce federal legislation to restrict abortion across the country. Peters tweeted in 2021: "We need to protect the lives of the unborn! We must remove Democrat killers from office." Peters has pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Steven's priorities in Congress
Steven experienced the tragic consequences of gun violence firsthand; he was 19 when he lost his father to gun violence. Steven has received the endorsement of Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization, co-founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 while speaking with constituents in Tucson. When announcing the endorsement of Steven, Gabby Giffords said: “Politicians bought and paid for by the gun lobby to defend the firearms industry can no longer get away with saying thoughts and prayers and then staying silent…Voters are ready to elect leaders, like Steven Horsford, who will always put protecting the safety of our communities first, not themselves, and certainly not the gun lobby. Steven has what it takes to take on the biggest challenges and fight for solutions that will keep our schools, streets, churches and communities safe. Giffords is proud to endorse Steven Horsford for Congress, because he’s the kind of leader who will never stop working to make Nevada’s communities safer.”
Steven has a strong record on women’s health and on the environment, with a 100% rating by Planned Parenthood and a 100% rating for 2020 by the League of Conservation Voters.
Steven serves as First Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Co-Chair of the Labor Caucus. He is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He serves on the following committees:
- Committee on Ways and Means (Subcommittees: Health; Oversight; Social Security)
- Committee on the Budget
- House Armed Services Committee (Subcommittees: Strategic Forces; Tactical Air and Land Forces)
Praise for Steven
When the Las Vegas Sun newspaper endorsed Steven for re-election in 2020, it wrote: “Horsford has served Nevada well on an array of issues — the environment, immigration policy, gun violence and more — and is particularly strong on health care. Horsford’s efforts on that front include:
- Championing a number of bills aimed at reducing drug prices…
- Introducing legislation to ban junk insurance plans…
- He also introduced legislation to protect Americans with preexisting conditions from being denied coverage.
In these times, especially, Nevada needs steady, capable and stable leadership, which Horsford has proven he can provide. We urge voters to reelect Horsford.”
Call to action
Early donations are particularly helpful to Steven’s chances of being re-elected in this important race. And the more votes for Steven in Nevada’s 4th congressional district, the more likely U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto will be re-elected – a crucial race for Democrats to keep their majority in the Senate.
