Carson City, NV (AP) - A state lawmaker who marched in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, and was later censured for refusing to wear a mask in the Statehouse is running for Congress in Nevada.
Annie Black, a Republican Assemblywoman from Mesquite, announced on Tuesday that she planned to challenge Rep. Steven Horsford in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District.
The district has traded hands between Republicans and Democrats over the last decade., but recently redrawn district maps passed by Nevada lawmakers have put more Democrats in the newly drawn congressional district
Black, who defeated an incumbent assemblyman in the 2020 Republican primary, said in a statement that her campaign would be focused on economic issues, including small businesses, inflation and Nevada’s high unemployment rate.
“The Nevada I know and love is the land of opportunity, but the Biden-Horsford economic policies are destroying our state and bankrupting Nevadans,” said Black, who works in real estate when not in the Legislature.
The announcement also referenced her opposition to mask mandates in the Statehouse.
“As Governor Sisolak and the state legislature handed down mask mandates, Annie took a stand on the Assembly floor and was censured by Democrats for refusing to wear a mask and provide a vaccine passport,” it said.
Debates over mandates will likely return to the forefront as a variant-fueled surge sweeps the state.
The number of new cases reported daily has steadily risen in recent weeks and state officials reported a 14-day moving average of 1,896 new daily cases on Tuesday.
Black is set to run against several Republicans in the June 2022 primary, including 2020 candidate Sam Peters, a retired Air Force Officer; Jessie Vargas, a former professional boxer; and Chance Bonaventura, an aide to Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore.
Horsford defeated former Assemblyman Jim Marchant by 4.4 percentage points in 2020, but Democrats worry that low voter turnout and historic trends favoring the minority party in midterm election years makes the district vulnerable.