Both parties like their chances in ‘purple’ Assembly District 4

Democrat Ryan Hampton and Republican Lisa Cole are vying for an open legislative seat that will help determine if Democrats retain a supermajority in the Nevada Assembly.

A commercial development executive and the founder of an addiction services nonprofit are facing off in a Nevada swing district where Gov. Joe Lombardo hopes a Republican victory will help break the Democrats' current Assembly supermajority.

With a Republican incumbent not seeking re-election, development professional Lisa Cole is the Republican hoping to keep Assembly District 4 in the northwest Las Vegas Valley red. The Democrat, addiction services provider Ryan Hampton, is hoping to put the district back in the Democratic column.

Republicans have a slight voter registration edge in AD 4, with 16,127 active Republican registered voters compared to 15,087 active registered Democratic voters, and 15,846 active nonpartisan voters.

"I think this district is about as moderate and purple as it gets," Hampton said. "The very fact that it has been held by Republicans and Democrats and has swung both ways in the last few years goes to show you that voters look beyond partisan identities when making their decisions."

Hampton has raised about $174,000 while Cole has raised about $140,000 according to campaign finance reports filed in July.

If Democrats flip the seat, it could help assure they retain a supermajority in the Assembly, which they currently hold by one vote.

Democrats would be able to override Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo's veto power if they maintain a supermajority in the Assembly and also secure a supermajority in the Senate, where they are currently one vote shy.

Hampton, an author and co-founder of addiction support services nonprofit Mobile Recovery, said in an interview his campaign isn't focused on party control or becoming a veto-proof majority in both chambers.

He said he is running because "folks are hurting and my community is hurting" and he wants to do something about it.

"I am not running to be a rubber stamp for anybody including the Democratic party," Hampton said. "I'm not running to be a stamp for a blanket agenda. I don't think anyone running on the Republican side should be running to be a rubber stamp for the Republican agenda."

Cole listed as her first priority on her website that it was "essential to our great state that we ensure Governor Lombardo has the power to veto bills from a legislature run amok."

"Sometimes even well-intentioned legislation can have disastrous consequences," the website says. "Democrats are currently one seat away from veto-proof majorities in each chamber."

Cole didn't respond to numerous requests for an interview.

Cole is the vice president of Land Development Associates, an industrial design and permitting and project management firm whose notable projects include developments within the Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas.

During an interview with Las Vegas HEALS Podcast in August, Cole said people connected with Gov. Joe Lombardo approached her about running for office because they were "looking for someone to endorse in the AD 4 race."

"I got a call basically from the governor saying ...'hey, would you be willing to run for office?'" Cole told the interviewer.

Breaking the Democratic supermajority in the Assembly is a top 2024 campaign for the governor.

Hampton was one of seven legislative candidates spotlighted this summer by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which is an official arm of the national Democratic Party focused on state legislative races.

AD 4 is a swing district. It is currently held by Republican Richard McArthur.

McArthur was elected to the seat in 2016, but Democrat Connie Munk briefly ousted McArthur in the "blue wave" of 2018. McArthur reclaimed the seat in 2020.

McArthur ran for Senate District 18 this year, where he came in third in the Republican primary.

Hampton will celebrate a decade of sobriety in February. His experience facing addiction, he said, would help him make the case in the Legislature for addressing the opioid epidemic and increasing access to recovery resources.

If elected, Hampton said fixing a broken healthcare system is a top priority, in particular by looking at Medicaid reimbursement rates.

Reimbursement rates "are some of the lowest in the nation", and that "keeps good providers from coming into the state because their pay rates are so low."

The state also needs to improve accessibility to health services, he said, noting some data has shown that "69% of Nevadans who died from an overdose last year had at least one opportunity for potential linkage of care before their death."

The state, he said, needs to look at ways to address these "missed opportunities."

During the HEALS podcast, Cole said if elected she would be able to minimize bureaucratic obstacles faced by corporate developers such as the issues she faced when developing Apex.

As a legislator she said it would be "an amazing opportunity to fix problems not just for my clients on one offs on their projects but try to roll back some of the red tape" and address issues faced by developers "on a much bigger scale."

Cole reiterated her position on her website saying that one of the priorities if elected is to look at ways the state could "streamline the right-of-way process at significant projects in Nevada like the Apex Industrial Park."

Her website also highlights addressing other regulatory burdens put on businesses, from street vendors to residential developers.