Nick Christenson
Nick Christenson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Nevada State Assembly to represent District 2. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Christenson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Nick Christenson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in 1990. His career experience includes working as an author and consultant.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2022
General election
General election for Nevada State Assembly District 2
Incumbent Heidi Kasama defeated Nick Christenson and Jason Bednarz in the general election for Nevada State Assembly District 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Heidi Kasama (R)  | 54.3 | 16,221 |
 | Nick Christenson (D) | 44.3 | 13,216 | |
 | Jason Bednarz (L) | 1.4 | 412 | |
| Total votes: 29,849 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Nick Christenson advanced from the Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 2.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 2
Incumbent Heidi Kasama defeated Erin Gomez in the Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 2 on June 14, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Heidi Kasama | 76.7 | 4,294 |
 | Erin Gomez | 23.3 | 1,307 | |
| Total votes: 5,601 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Nick Christenson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Christenson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My education is in the sciences. My career has been primarily in information technology and business. I have spent a lot of time volunteering for organizations dedicated to conservation. I believe that Las Vegas faces many challenges in the near term. We are the fastest warming city in the United States. Our water supply is facing a crisis. Our air quality was given an F by the American Lung Association. Despite all this, I believe our best days are still ahead of us, if we make the adjustments we need to in order to create a sustainable future. We need more elected leaders in Nevada who have both the will and the understanding to guide us along the path we need to travel.
- We need to move Las Vegas along a path to long term sustainability.
- We are facing additional crises in several key areas, including housing, education, and health care. We need to move aggressively and creatively to address these.
- We need to continue to diversify the valley's economy. We have abundant opportunities to promote Las Vegas as a center for technology, clean energy, and outdoor recreation as well as in other fields.
I'm extremely passionate about reducing and mitigating the effects of climate change on our community. I'm also extremely interested in economic development, housing, health care, education, and promoting equity.
The first core responsibility of elected officials is to promote the long term interests of their constituents. When I'm in office, I promise to put doing the right thing ahead of my own self-interest or prospects of re-election. In office, I will never forget that I am there because my constituents believed I would best represent them. Elected officials have other responsibilities in addition to this. These include honesty to constituents, fellow officeholders and the general public, not using one's office for personal gain or advancement, and having respect and concern for those whose voices are not broadly represented in the corridors of power. Being elected to office is an awesome responsibility, and I deeply respect those who continually remind themselves of this and behave accordingly.
However long I serve in the Nevada legislature, I would hope my legacy would have been as someone who left the state in a better position than he found it. The sorts of legislation I would like to sponsor and pass are bills that years down the road, people were glad that were passed, and that these bills made Nevada a better, most sustainable place.
One of the key events that happened in my lifetime was the Second Gulf War, referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom and follow-on operations. There are many reasons why this was so indelible. Firstly, the basis for this war was a lie. The American people were deceived by our elected officials in order to allow them to accomplish political ends. In the second place, so many people died and were permanently disabled, both among our own troops and Iraqis who just wanted to make a life for their families. Additionally, the war plans were flawed in that we went into it with no plausible idea how to achieve control and withdraw from the operation. Consequentially, we were actively involved for 14 years or so, depending on how you measure it, with many more casualties heaped on top of unnecessary deaths because nobody wanted to be the one to "officially" take the "L". Finally, it was morally reprehensible that the same people who sent us to war resisted at every turn providing sufficient support for our warriors when they came home, both in terms of physical and mental health care. Going to war should always be a last resort, but when we are compelled to do so it's not enough to allocate the means to fight, we also must immediately ramp up our support structures to aid the people who will suffer as a result. The lessons of this conflict have left a permanent mark on me, as they have on many people, and I hope that as a nation we are able to remember and learn the appropriate lessons.
Back in 2004, The Slackers released an EP with a song titled "Propaganda". It's in my head right now, and is every bit as appropriate today as it was when it was released. As the song says, "So tell me more about my situation/And evil men who are coming for my nation/And evil forces who are coming for my freedom". Still timely. Give it a listen.
Nevada's greatest long term challenge is climate change. Las Vegas is the fastest warming city in the nation, Reno is the third fastest warming city. Up and down the state we are facing water crises that can be addressed, but we are not currently on a sustainable path to do so. Air quality across the state is poor. The American Lung Association found Nevada to have among the most unhealthy air quality in the nation. We can address all these problems, and do so in a way that *saves* rather than costs Nevada money in the long run, but we need the will to do so. Nevada faces several other critical challenges, including diversifying the economy, education, housing, health care, and others, but in my opinion, climate change is chief among these, and addressing it helps to solve many of the other critical issues we face.
Freshman legislators often don't get a lot of say in what committees they're assigned to, but there are several committees where I think I could make a significant beneficial impact. I believe my background as an environmentalist makes me well suited for the Natural Resources committee. I have some ideas about how we can continue to balance our needs to address climate change, support our state's remarkable biodiversity, while still promoting smart economic growth. I also believe my background in business and technology makes me well suited to serve of the Growth and Infrastructure committee. I can help other legislators understand what businesses, especially in technical fields, are looking for when they are evaluating Nevada as a place to call home. I think I'd be a good fit for other committees besides the two I've listed here, but I think these are the two where I can provide the most positive impact for Nevada.
While knocking on doors in my district, I remember a conversation I had with a working mother. After discussing my platform she said that she supported what I was trying to do, but she didn't know if she'd be able to vote for me because she was planning on moving out of state. She wanted to move because she didn't see a future for Las Vegas. I was deeply saddened by this. I firmly believe that all of Las Vegas' problems are eminently solvable, and if we do the things we all know we need to, we can have a future that is even better than we have today. But many valley residents see what's going on and where we are headed if we follow our present course. It's disheartening when I hear that people don't believe in the future of our community. I believe in our future, but only if we stop doing business as we did decades ago and make the changes we all know are required. I promise to do everything I can to move us toward a sustainable and prosperous future.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 13, 2022
