Nye County voter urges neighbors: ‘Stop being so polarized’

Nye County voters have likely already decided who their next commissioners will be ahead of the general election, and here’s why.

As many as 31,715 registered Nye County voters could cast their ballot in the 2024 general election, voter records show. Nearly half of those voters are registered Republicans. This has allowed Republicans to turn the rural pickax-shaped county ruby red, compared with neighboring Clark County where Republicans make up only a quarter of all registered voters.

Most Nye County voters appear to be more inclined to vote with their candidates’ party affiliation over what they bring to Nye County in the general election. And often partisan candidates, like commissioner seats, are largely made up of Republicans as few other parties competing in the race.

In the primary election, each major party selected their top candidate to go up against the other party’s top candidate. Where there is no Democratic or third-party candidate, voters only have one candidate to vote for in the general election, as voters will continue to see in Nye County.

Nye County hasn’t had a county commissioner who wasn’t registered as a Republican since 1998, according to Nevada secretary of state records. In election after election, not a single Democrat or third-party has come close.

The closest a Democratic candidate came to getting elected as a commissioner was in the 2008 general election, when Harley Zane Kulkin, former chair of the Pahrump town board, received 45 percent of the votes. His Republican competitor, Gary Hollis, beat him by 10 percent.

Over 5,500 Nye County Republicans live in District 2 and 3 have likely already decided who their next commissioners will be.

Here’s how the candidates stand on several issues.

John Koenig

John Koenig, a former commissioner, secured nearly 45 percent of the votes for District 2, a more rural part of Pahrump Valley. Therefore, Koenig won his primary and will not face another competitor in the general election.

He said he believes things were unfinished after he left his commissioner seat, referring to mainly growth and finances in the county.

He said he has seen the county borrow millions of dollars, and that he disagrees with the need to borrow such large quantities. Koenig said he will take a close look at the county’s finances, when and if he takes office.

“It’s the only time I have,” he said, noting he would be 87 by the time the commissioner term ends. “It’s my last shot before I retire and put my shoes up.”

Fight for District 3

In the business-dense District 3 area of Pahrump, 51 more Republicans preferred candidate Ian Bayne over Tamie Pitman in the primary election.

Bayne will face off against Louis Baker, who is registered as an Independent American Party candidate in the Nov. 5 general election.

“My strategy is to even out the political system,” Baker said, a biker and former car dealer. He said he will be targeting the 1,921 non-partisan voters in Nye County.

Baker registered with the IAP to get past the primary election and because “I don’t like the crime and corruptions in both parties,” he said. “People are looking for an alternative.”

Baker said that if elected, he wants to work with both sides of the aisle, supporting local and state leaders who are there for their constituents. That includes working on a solution to get unhoused people a shelter to get back on their feet.

Bayne said he has three main goals if elected. They are to fully fund the sheriff’s office and the fire department; remove homeless camps to prevent having a larger homeless population; and launch an anti-corruption task force.

Bayne did not provide a plan for how he would accomplish securing funding for first responders or one for where to put people struggling with homelessness.

In the 2022 general election, only 30 percent of Nye County voters cast their ballots for the IAP candidate in the commissioner District 3 race, while the Republican received nearly 70 percent of the votes.

Baker isn’t daunted by the odds at all, he said.

Future growth

Nye County has grown over the past four years and recently added an estimated 4,000 new residents, bringing the county population to just over 55,000 inhabitants. Most of those inhabitants are moving to Pahrump.

Koenig has said he’d like to see the growth occur in the southern end of Pahrump and to keep his district, in the northern end of the valley, rural.

“You put the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. I want to protect the rural lifestyle we have here in District 2,” Koenig previously told the Pahrump Valley Times. “The growth is gonna come, and we just have to put it where it should be rather than where [investors] want it to be.”

But as for District 3, in the heart of Pahrump, plans are less certain.

“If Pahrump grows, I can’t control that one way or another,” Bayne said previously. “I will do everything possible to preserve our western culture and traditional values.”

Bayne said he doesn’t want to see the town become overly urban but notes he isn’t opposed to a couple more restaurants in the valley and a Trader Joe’s store.

“I would love to see an Applebee’s or a Chili’s,” he said.

He has also created a petition on his website for Trader Joe’s to come to Pahrump.

Baker, on the other hand, would like to have a study conducted on the town’s capacity for growth. Once the town can determine its capacity, he would be inclined to agree to any type of growth.

Housing

Housing prices have risen in the Pahrump Valley, a retirement community with a median age over 50. More than 55 percent of the population is over 50, according to census data. Many are on fixed incomes.

As the valley grows in population, so will the housing projects.

Bayne previously told the Pahrump Valley Times that he would support any affordable housing project that is not densely populated. Yet on his website he is not in support of, “low-income housing projects or dense housing.”

Koenig would not mind new housing developments in the valley, but would again recommend the growth happen in southern part of the valley. The incoming commissioner lives among other large acre property owners that own horses and others who farm, and Koenig would like to keep a part of the town rural.

Nevada registered voters will receive their ballots roughly three weeks before the general election and early voting will begin on Oct. 19.

Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@pvtimes.com. Follow @JimmyRomo.News on Instagram.