By KayLynn Roberrts-McMurrray
The Ely Times
Congressional candidate Cresent Hardy stopped in Ely recently as a part of his “Nevada Tough” tour. The tour made stops in seven counties and 10 cities, with the focus on Nevada’s rural areas such as Mesquite, Pioche, Alamo, Round Mountain, Tonopah, Hawthorne and Ely.
Congressional candidate Cresent Hardy, who is running for the District 4 seat against Stephen Horsford, visited Ely recently as part of his “Nevada Tough” tour of the district.
KayLynn Roberts-McMurray
The event was held at the Renaissance Village, where many locals got a chance to meet Hardy, ask him questions, and enjoy some barbecue sandwiches from Racks Bar & Grill. District Attorney Mike Wheable introduce Hardy to the crowd.
“You’re here to find out who I am,” Hardy said. “I grew up as a young man, with a pretty hard-working father with a five generational son of Mormon ranchers in Mesquite, Nevada. My dad used to say if you want the horse and buggy to go where you want it to go, take control of the reins, not sit on the back of the saddle.”
Hardy went on to explain to the crowd the business he owned and operated before entering into the political world. Hardy said he was a job creator, claiming that at one time his business had more than 350 employees, but by 2010 he had less than 70. Hardy claimed that the decrease in employees had everything to do with government overreach.
“I asked my family if I should run again, and they told me, ‘Dad you need to go back.’ You have to have a reason to run, then for the future of your children, for the future of your posterity, that’s why I’m here. I care about what’s happening, and if you can’t see the change over the past few years that’s happening in our country, we’re losing it folks.
“I like to say I’m not a politician, I am a community servant, and I truly believe I’m running for the right reason.”
Hardy spoke about his opponent, Steven Horsford, who held the fourth congressional seat in 2012 until Hardy unseated Horsford in 2014, 49 percent to 46 percent.
Hardy noted that 42 weeks out of the year he would travel home every week, meeting with people in the district. There were only about four times over the two year period that he didn’t make it back.
“Too many people stay back in D.C. and the only negative thing you’re going to hear about my opponent, is that’s how we beat him (Horsford) in 2014,” he said. “He was elected to Congress, he moved his family to D.C. he bought a home and that’s where he lives and is still today, but he says he lives here. He’s paid taxes in Virginia, for the past five years. He has a home there. His kids go to school there, something seems to be wrong about that, to not send your kids here to go to school in Nevada.”
When asked what his thoughts were on Question 3, Hardy answered “I am a pro competition type of guy. Here comes my challenge with pro-competition and the way it’s set up, it should not be in the state constitution for one, nor should a Nevada power issue be in the constitution. And the other thing that scares the heck out of me, is when it goes through this process, now it’s with politicians that didn’t want to deal with this issue, you don’t really know what the outcome is going to be when it’s left in political hands who don’t have the knowledge.”
The next questions asked of Hardy was where did he see the healthcare issue going? Hardy said, “I believe this is our last chance to change it. We had control of the house, you saw what the house did, we vetoed it, and did away with it when I was there. It could never get through the Senate. This time they have the same situation.”
Hardy and Wheable both encouraged the crowd telling them how crucial it was to get involved. Wheable stressed voter turnout by saying, “Having your family get to the polls to vote means everything, we have some really important local elections coming up, you can complain all you want all day long, you can say I don’t like that person, if you don’t come down and vote, it doesn’t make a difference.
“The people who are controlling our future, and our families future, they are the ones who show up to vote.”
Hardy explained that 70 percent of the voting population lives in Las Vegas, Washoe has the other 25 percent. “It sounds like an unachievable opportunity but in 2014 we did it because the rurals showed up,” he said.
Nevada’s 4th District is comprised of an area just north of Las Vegas, White Pine, Nye, Mineral, Esmeralda and Lincoln counties and parts of Lyon county.
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