Conservative policy wonk challenges incumbent Jones in District F

A conservative policy analyst vying to unseat a Clark County commissioner in November says he wants to shake up the current all-Democrat government board.

“There’s a real lack of diversity in opinion, of different thoughts,” Drew Johnson said. “And one of the problems is — from my perspective, as a government watchdog for a living who does open records requests and lots of budgets — there’s a lot of corruption that can happen (when) either party controls government.”

His opponent, Commissioner Justin Jones, said “the future looks bright” for the county and that he wants to be part of the commission that takes it there.

“It’s been a wonderful but also challenging last four years,” said Jones about the pandemic era that befell Southern Nevada a little over a year into his term. “But I feel like we have made some great progress here in Clark County in terms of economic development and improving quality of life through new parks and trails, and I want to continue that work.”

Johnson bested three Republican challengers during the June primary, getting nearly 50 percent of the vote. Jones had no opposition in the Democratic primary.

Jones raised nearly $400,000 in 2022, and had nearly $1.3 million on hand, according to financial records submitted in July. Johnson had about $88,000 remaining from the $148,047 he had raised in the same time period.

Incumbent

Jones’ said his main focus during a second term would be to continue addressing affordable housing. He said the shortage of 70,000 affordable homes for low-income county residents has ballooned to more than 85,000 since the onset of the pandemic.

“We’re in a unique opportunity to provide affordable housing, for economic diversification and for a great quality of life here,” he said. The commission voted in September to approve a $120 million investment to housing projects, which would build or renovate more than 3,000 units.

“You can’t have a vibrant economy here in Southern Nevada unless we can find better tools and ability to address affordable housing,” he said.

He would also like to see the county become a “regional leader” in manufacturing and tech and would push forward projects to advance development at the Apex Industrial Park.

Jones said his work serving on the Regional Transportation of Southern Nevada and Southern Nevada Water Authority boards gives him an edge in water and transportation issues. An avid cyclist, he has advocated for transforming infrastructure to be more inclusive, and therefore safer, for pedestrians and cyclists.

“The future looks bright for Southern Nevada,” he said. “We still have hurdles to overcome.”

Policy wonk

Johnson, a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, and a prolific columnist, made the move from Washington, D.C., to his Clark County district so that his wife could start a business in 2015.

They quickly realized that Southern Nevada was not the low-tax, low-regulatory, libertarian haven they had been promised. Johnson said he would advocate to ease the red tape for small business owners.

“The first thing I want to do is focus on helping small businesses and young entrepreneurs … be able to more easily open businesses and create jobs,” he said.

He said he would be a watchdog for government transparency on how the county distributes the millions of federal dollars obtained because of COVID-19.

County lawmakers missed the opportunity to address the strained police-community relations following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the killing of Breonna Taylor by Kentucky police following a no-knock warrant, he said.

“Some discussions needed to happen, and I’m glad those discussions are happening,” he said. “But we have a community who doesn’t trust police, and it’s been exacerbated by people like Justin Jones vilifying police.”

Johnson blames rising housing costs on the amount of land the government owns, which he said does not incentivize growth and development.

He would work across political isles to pass ordinances that benefit all taxpayers but also acknowledged that he would readily lose on some issues.

“For example, I would love the airport to be named the Las Vegas International Airport,” he said. “I will lose that six to one.” (The airport was renamed to honor former Nevada U.S. Sen. Harry Reid in December.)

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.