Hear Lauren Scott campaign and she sounds like most Republicans—keep taxes low, promote economic development, support the governor. But, unlike the typical GOP candidate, she spent years fighting for LGBT rights in Nevada.
“In the North, it’s a little bit of an oxymoron—a gay Republican—but, down South, it does seem to be a growing group. Nationally, they are very well-known. I do have their endorsement.”
Since 2009, Scott has lobbied for bills that prevent discrimination in housing and employment based on someone’s sexual orientation and gender expression. She's also a business and technology consultant.
If elected, Scott would be the first openly transgender state legislator in the country—that’s not why she’s running, of course, but acknowledges it would be a significant step.
“Becoming the first openly transgender legislator says that, ‘hey, it does get better,’ and ‘hey, society has changed,’ and ‘hey, she won in a Democrat district as a Republican of all things, so maybe pigs will fly.' ”
District 30stretches east of Interstate 395, past the Sparks Marina, and then south to the airport (also north along Pyramid Way). Democrat Mike Sprinkle represents the area and is running for a second term. As it turns out, Scott was a Democrat, too, until about five years ago. She even worked on the Kerry campaign in Florida; that was mostly driven by the party’s progressive position on social issues, though.
“But, as a business person, I could not agree with their positions on business and taxation. It was a decision based on historic figures in Republican politics, such as Barry Goldwater, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt. They all had a centrist ideology and so does Governor Sandoval.”
The governor has endorsed Scott and, two years ago, appointed her to the Nevada Equal Rights Commission for her advocacy work. But talk to Scott about her priorities and the focus is high-tech manufacturing, taxation and vocational training.
Her opponent, Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle, has been a firefighter in Reno for two decades and says his work in the legislature shows his commitment to pragmatic, bipartisan politics.
“Of all the bills that I primarily sponsored, every single one of them made it through the legislature and was signed by the governor. So I definitely had a one hundred percent record in regards to that.”
Sprinkle has strong support among local labor groups and has outraised Scott by more than 3 to 1. Last session, some of the legislation he worked on dealt with sex trafficking and providing companies with tax abatements in exchange for supporting higher education. Like other Democrats, he also pushed for AB46, a failed measure that would have raised taxes to fund capital projects in the Washoe County School District.
“This was something that I really wanted to see us take a stand on because we really need to support our schools . So what we really need to do now and into the future is look at a new far more broad based tax structure, looking at that and making sure everybody down to you and I up to the major corporations are paying their fair share.”
Sprinkle doesn’t seem all that concerned about his opponent and hasn’t really looked into any of her positions. Still, he believes the relationships he made in Carson City during his first term will make him a more effective legislator than she.
“The incumbent is a party line Democrat voter."
That’s Lauren Scott again.
“Everything, he’s voted on has been basically down the line for supporting democratic issues. He’s had no really interesting policies he’s put forward to aggressively do much.”
Assemblyman Sprinkle rejects this characterization. He says his record shows his votes are based, not strictly on party affiliation, but on his constituents.
“They elected me. They elected me pretty overwhelmingly last time, and I’m looking for the same thing this time. And that’s because they know, in the end, I’m not going to do what’s best for myself. What I'm really going to do is what’s best for the people who elected me.”
Sprinkle beat out his Republican challenger in 2012 by more than 10%. This election, Democrats outnumber registered GOP voters by about 3,200 in his district. But Scott points out that an additional 5,000 voters are registered as nonpartisan. She believes her credentials will appeal to those voters, as well as some disenchanted Democrats.
“I have 20 year of experience in business management, electronic manufacturing. Plus, I’m a veteran and I bring all of that to the table.”
If elected, Scott doesn’t anticipate she’ll be doing much on LGBT issues because advocates have secured most of the protections that were missing in Nevada statute.
She’s also not promoting herself as the “trans politician,” but rather a strong voice for her party. That said, she recognizes her candidacy is part of shift in the GOP’s identity.
“The more the Republican Party begins to reflect liberal social issues and conservative fiscal issues, we will start seeing a lot of people coming out of the woodwork saying, ‘hey, I’m proud to be a Republican that represents the cross section of American, not some right wing ideology.”
Whether that philosophy wins over Independents, or even Democrats, in Assembly District 30 remains to be seen. But the big Republican turnout so far has many races, including Scott’s, feeling a lot closer than expected.
