From Losing Candidate to Bigger Believer: My Campaign Trail Confession.
I lost my race for Clark County Commission this year. I won't lie to you, that stung.
But I got more out of running than I ever expected, and I think more Nevadans should give it a try.
Running for office isn't what you see on TV.
It's standing on a stranger's porch in the summer heat, learning their name, and actually listening when they tell you what's bothering them.
It's volunteers giving up their Saturdays to fold mailers and knock doors because they believe in something.
It's the guy at the gas station who remembers your name from a yard sign three streets over.
I met more of my neighbors in six months of campaigning than I had in the ten years before that.
Was it all smooth? No.
There were slow weeks where nobody answered the door. There were nights I wondered if any of it mattered.
But looking back, the whole thing was exciting. I got to fight for something bigger than myself alongside people who cared just as much as I did. That's rare in life.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and I hope more people, whatever their politics, decide to run for something someday. School board, city council, it doesn't matter. Get in the arena.
An Old Warning Worth Remembering
There's an old line, often traced back to Socrates in Plato's Republic, that says one of the penalties for refusing to take part in politics is that you end up governed by people worse than you.
That's over two thousand years old, and it still holds up.
If good, decent people stay on the sidelines, somebody else fills that seat. That's the whole reason I ran, and it's why I'm not done.
I bring this up because Newt Gingrich wrote something recently that stuck with me.
In a July 17 column, he laid out how Republicans can win big in 2026 by focusing on affordability, jobs, and a positive vision for the country.
He also pointed back to history, to how Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans slowly became what he calls “The American Party” by simply out-competing a Federalist Party that had lost touch with regular people.
To be clear, there's no card you sign or club you join. Gingrich isn't describing an actual party.
It's a way of thinking. It's the idea that most Americans, whatever they're registered as, want low taxes, safe streets, good schools, and a government that leaves them be.
That's less about party and more about direction.
Where the Two Parties Stand Today
It’s been well over a decade since I voted on the other side of the aisle and the Democrat Socialists of America, running over the moderate Democrats, isn’t a party I can remotely identify with.
Nor can most Americans. It is certainly a poor fit for a state like Nevada
But the newer, DSA-style wing of the Democratic Party pulling harder toward big government socialism isn't the same party I once knew.
And it's a poor fit for a state like Nevada that runs on low taxes, tourism, and personal freedom.
Right now, the Republican approach lines up better with what most Nevada families actually need.
Gingrich points to a recent Pew poll where 73 percent of Americans call healthcare costs a major problem, 66 percent say the same about food and everyday costs, and 62 percent are worried about housing.
Those numbers don't care about party registration. They care about results.
I lost my race, but I gained something better. I found out that showing up matters.
So my message to you is simple: Don't sit politics out. Volunteer for a campaign. Run for something yourself. Or just show up to a meeting.
Because whatever seat you're not willing to fill, somebody else will.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
