Incumbent, retired Las Vegas artist face off in AD10

Incumbent Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen, D-Las Vegas, is facing off against now-retired Las Vegas artist Sandie “Gisela” Hernandez in Assembly District 10.

Nguyen was first appointed to the seat in 2019 after a vacancy opened when Chris Brooks was appointed to the state Senate. She later won the seat in 2020.

The near instantaneous impact of changes made in Carson City encouraged Nguyen to run for a third term.

“I just have seen how impactful our state government (is) on policies and decisions that we make in the state government, like you see almost an immediate impact in our actual communities,” Nguyen said. “I think that’s kind of exciting.”

Although she’s proud of all the bills she sponsored in the last session, the two-term Democrat touted the passage of Assembly Bill 116, which decriminalizes minor traffic violations starting in January.

“Knowing that so many people before me had worked on the same issue, knowing that it has overwhelming bipartisan support, knowing that it was evidence based, knowing that it was equity based, and working with so many different community partners and law enforcement and advocacy groups and individuals in the community made that bill extra special for me,” she said.

If re-elected, one of her top priorities is growing the economy around health care. Nguyen said she’s also looking into a workforce development program and solutions to bring down the costs of Medicaid for the state.

Nguyen also said she supports protecting women and health care providers when they’re providing care for both Nevadans and out-of-state patients, especially for abortions and reproductive health services.

Gov. Steve Sisolak made similar comments during a July roundtable with pro-choice advocates and health care providers, vowing to work with the Legislature to codify an executive order he signed that protects out-of-state patients and in-state care providers from prosecution for providing abortions.

Voters in the west-central Las Vegas district will have the choice between her and political newcomer Sandie “Gisela” Hernandez.

Hernandez, who has been retired since 2009, formerly owned a logistics company with her husband and was an artist. She said the statewide lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged her to get involved in politics.

“I thought, ‘You know what? Legislators are the ones that have the most power to amend the bills and change things.’ So I started doing my homework,” she said.

Hernandez, a Republican, said she’s interested in policies related to “law and order” because she was formerly married to a law enforcement officer.

According to her campaign website, Hernandez supports school choice, requiring a government identification to vote and the repeal of the commerce tax. Her website also lists priorities such as protecting Second Amendment rights and that “sanctuary cities/counties for illegal immigrants need to be prevented.”

“I want to make everything easier for the Nevadans, but there’s too much government overreach,” she said. “I’m a constitutional conservative. And I’m for America first. And I’m obviously completely opposite of my opponent,” she said.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter.