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Libertarian Bousley challenging Flores in Assembly District 28

A Libertarian and a Democratic incumbent are facing off in the race for state Assembly District 28.

Democrat and Las Vegas immigration attorney Edgar Flores has held the seat since 2014, when Lucy Flores gave up her Assembly seat to unsuccessfully run for lieutenant governor. He ran unopposed that year. In 2016, he won a contested election but ran unopposed again in 2018.

Flores, who prides himself on being the son of immigrants and grew up in the valley, did not return repeated phone calls and emails by the Review-Journal. He has long stood by policies that support equitable education, immigration reform and better access to health care and unemployment options.

“I understood what it felt like to be voiceless,” he said in a video on his website.

Throughout his tenure, he sponsored five bills and cosponsored 57 related to education, health care immigration and unemployment issues.

Libertarian Natasha Bousley grew up in west Las Vegas and is an online business owner who oversees the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority Hullum/Jones Garden Resident Council. Bousley said she was inspired to run for office because of the current climate of extreme partisanship in politics, and that the people of Nevada are suffering for it.

“People need to know that there’s another option out there,” she said, adding that she has lived in the district for more than 10 years and understands the pulse of the constituents.

Her main priorities are to create opportunities for small businesses in her district, and to bring grocery stores to her district, which she says is a food desert and has lack of access to health care.

Bousley emphasized the need of unemployment assistance during the coronavirus pandemic, a pipeline of funding from the federal government, and protections for those that have been furloughed and work on the Strip. She did not have an answer when asked what ideas she had to cut funding in light of the downturn in state revenue.

But, when it comes to the coronavirus, Bousley said, “human life is a priority, and it has to be treated as such.”

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.

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