As Democrats attempt to gain their first two-thirds Senate supermajority this century, Southern Nevada’s Senate District 5 is one of the few districts the party hopes to flip blue this election cycle.
The swing district covering portions of Henderson and Paradise is represented by Sen. Carrie Buck (R-Henderson) and has a fairly even split of registered Democratic (29 percent) and Republican voters (29 percent), with the highest percentage of voters registered as nonpartisans (34 percent).
Buck, who has a background in administrative education, moved to Las Vegas in the 1990s and serves as the president of the Pinecrest Foundation, a registered nonprofit that helps fund charter school educational initiatives including scholarships for students. She’s seeking re-election to a district she narrowly won in 2020 but had its boundaries shift after the 2021 redistricting process.
Her Democratic challenger, Jennifer Atlas, came to Southern Nevada almost 18 years ago as a competitive ballroom dancer and then worked in hospitality before eventually transitioning into lobbying. She no longer works as a lobbyist and is a paralegal for the Coburn and Martin law firm.
In separate long-ranging interviews with The Nevada Independent, Buck and Atlas addressed their goals for office and answered questions across 14 different policy areas.
Buck has faced attacks by Democrats for being the only Senate Republican to not pass any bills she sponsored during the 2021 and 2023 legislative sessions (when Democrats controlled both chambers). Buck defended her record, noting that the majority party can unilaterally kill bills, and her voting record shows she broke with her party more often than any other Republican state lawmaker in 2023, including being one of two Republicans to support protections for an out-of-state abortion seeker bill.
Atlas, meanwhile, has been criticized by Republicans for her past lobbying clients, such as Acadia Healthcare, a company whose subsidiaries have faced several scandals, including a for-profit psychiatric facility in Utah it owned that was sued for cases of sexual abuse. The company later shut down the facility.
Altas has pointed out that she only worked on behalf of Acadia Healthcare’s Nevada-based facilities, which were not involved in any scandals to date, and did not interact or have relationships with the organizations that had issues in other states. She said in past interviews with The Nevada Independent that her role in lobbying was primarily as a researcher.
She defended her record and views her past experience as a benefit that will allow her to “go to work on day one.” She said she is running for the seat because of her 9-year-old son and a desire to improve schools, through efforts such as reducing the number of long-term substitute teachers and large class sizes.
Below, we explore Atlas and Buck’s views on a variety of key legislative issues. Click here for the full list of questions we asked each candidate and their edited responses.
Education
Buck said many Nevada schools have had a one-star rating for more than a decade. She’d like to see a policy that allows the state to change a failing school’s governance that could address root causes.
Buck didn’t directly address a question about bringing Nevada’s per-pupil funding in line with national averages, but said the state already made a historic investment in education last session and more accountability is needed.
“You can throw billions more money at the Clark County School District, it’s not going to end up where it makes a difference,” Buck said.
If she had the power to make a specific policy change in the education realm, Atlas said it would
be to ensure “there’s a qualified teacher in every classroom that’s getting paid like the professional that they are,” and students are in appropriately sized classes.
“We have to make sure that we improve outcomes for everyone,” Atlas said. “So whether that’s through funding or other measures, it’s something we have to continue to work on.”
The topic of free school meals has become a political lightning rod after Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a bill last session that would have continued the universal program, citing the large number of students already eligible for free meals and a desire to get back to pre-pandemic normals.
Buck said providing universal school lunches is expensive for the state, and families who can afford it should be able to pay for their own lunch.
“All the ones that absolutely need to be fed are getting fed,” Buck said. “It’s a political thing to say that we’re not feeding kids, and that’s absolutely a lie.”
Atlas said there can be a stigma surrounding children who get a free or reduced-price lunch. She said some families who may not qualify for free or reduced-price lunch may also struggle to provide lunch for their children, and she “cannot wait” to support providing funding for universal free school meals.
“We have to make sure we’re taking care of our kids,” she said. “That shouldn’t be political.”
School choice
Buck said she supports providing state funding for school choice options arguing that the state may end up paying less than it would for the child to go to a public or charter school. States such as Arizona and Florida that have adopted universal school choice programs with no income limits have racked up massive budgetary costs, though Nevada’s Opportunity Scholarship program has limited enrollment and an income limit of up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
Atlas said students shouldn’t need to attend a private school to receive an excellent education, and the state’s education funding should ensure that public schools are fully funded first.
She criticized Lombardo’s administration for awarding money to a scholarship organization that gave Opportunity Scholarships to new students before ensuring those already in the system were funded. Atlas said that decision exhibited a “lack of transparency and fiscal mismanagement.”
She did not answer a question about whether students who currently receive Opportunity Scholarships should be able to keep them.
Health care
Both candidates agreed that greater access to health care is needed and the state should take steps to address the provider shortage.
Buck suggested raising Medicaid rates for services, or the rates doctors are reimbursed for low-income patients who are on the state-managed publicly funded insurance program.
Atlas wants to ensure that people can afford prescriptions and plans to bring a bill that would automatically enroll babies who qualify for Medicaid in the government-funded health insurance program.
Atlas said she believes that the state can expand on previous policies to require more transparency on the price of insulin and asthma medication.
Buck voted against a bill in 2023 that would have the state adopt drug prices negotiated by Medicare (the measure was vetoed by Lombardo). Legislative Democrats plan to reintroduce the measure in 2025, but Buck indicated she’s still opposed.
“Anytime you put caps on things, I really worry about … the greater impact,” Buck said.
Elections
Buck said she would support the voter ID initiative (Ballot Question 7) on the ballot, saying it would help prevent noncitizens from voting.
Atlas said voter ID policies have proven to disenfranchise older voters and voters of color.
“I do not believe we should be amending the Constitution in a way that could result in less participation and folks being left on the sideline,” Atlas said.
After losing the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump and his supporters falsely claimed massive fraud had taken place, including via the practice of “ballot harvesting.” Buck said she and other Republicans won races that year, proving there was not widespread fraud in Nevada’s election system.
Asked about her 2021 social media post accusing Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria of lying about not receiving ballots from 1,500 deceased voters that year, Buck said she received the list from the Republican Party and was trying to verify it.
“I was given this list, and so I asked the question,” Buck said. “Making sure that we do a thorough process is all that I’m trying to get to the bottom of.”
Buck said those who collect and turn in ballots should have to report more information to the state. She said with a mail-in option, there’s no need for anyone to be going around collecting ballots.
Atlas disagreed.
“So-called ‘ballot harvesting’ is a MAGA talking point adopted by Donald Trump and his allies to sow doubt in our elections and disenfranchise voters,” she said.
Housing
Buck said the Legislature needs to address the issue of unaffordable home insurance, and added that the government needs to find ways to ensure that when it comes to home prices, “we have a lot of options up and down the price point for families.”
Atlas said she appreciated that the Legislature set aside $200 million for a homelessness fund to service Clark County last year, and believes there are opportunities to expand that type of support.
Buck, whose husband owns a rental property, said she wouldn’t support removing the state’s unique and often criticized summary eviction law, because it might make renting out houses a riskier business and lead to decreased inventory.
“Anytime that you don’t go with (a) free market, you lessen inventory, and people don’t want to invest here or build here,” Buck said.
Atlas did not say whether she supported changing the policy.
Firearm policies
As a concealed carry permit holder, Buck said she has a right to protect herself and she is “never going to vote yes on an infringement of that right.”
She called school shootings “heartbreaking,” and suggested legalizing concealed carry for school officials could help address safety issues.
“When you have an area that says ‘no gun,’ it’s just a bull’s eye,” Buck said.
Atlas said gun violence in schools is one of her greatest fears as a mom, but she did not answer a question about whether she supports a state ban of semi-automatic or assault weapons, but said she would support common-sense reforms to address gun violence.
“When we look at mass shootings in this country when an assault weapon is used, it is six times more deadly,” Atlas said. “I truly believe we can find a way to protect our kids while balancing the rights of gun owners.”
Criminal justice reform
In 2023, lawmakers lowered the quantity of fentanyl possession needed to trigger a trafficking charge, though the change was less harsh than a competing proposal by Lombardo to raise criminal penalties for possession in any amount.
Buck said she believes criminal penalties for fentanyl possession should be higher and supports lowering the current possession thresholds.
“I know several people who have lost their kids to fentanyl,” Buck said. “Higher criminal penalties would be [an] appropriate remedy to disincentivize the abuse and the trafficking.”
Atlas applauded Attorney General Aaron Ford and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas), both Democrats, “for taking bold action to go after fentanyl traffickers and increase penalties.” She did not say what specific changes to the state’s fentanyl possession laws she would support.
“Because the fentanyl crisis is a national problem, it will require national solutions,” Atlas said. “I look forward to working with legislators from other states and at the federal level, so Nevada can adopt best practices.”
Tax credits
Buck said tax credits and incentives should only be granted if Nevadans benefit as a whole. She said she would consider that before voting on a tax credit program, such as the proposed expansion of the film tax credit program.
Atlas said she would need to review any tax credit legislation before she decided to support it. She noted, however, that an expansion of film tax credits could be an opportunity to diversify the state’s economy and create jobs.
“But it has to make sense for the state,” Atlas said. “If the numbers add up that we can generate more revenue for our schools, for our health care system than we put out, then it’s absolutely something worth exploring.”
Reproductive rights
Buck said she would support legislation protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF) but would leave the decision to change or expand Nevada’s existing abortion protections to voters.
Atlas said she will vote for Question 6, the ballot measure seeking to enshrine existing abortion protections into the Nevada Constitution, and would support a broader abortion rights initiative that will return to the Legislature in 2025 (that Buck voted against).
“I’m a strong supporter and endorser of reproductive freedom,” Atlas said. “I want to protect our rights to birth control and IVF, and that’s exactly what that initiative will do.”
Asked whether they believed Nevada Medicaid should cover abortion services, Atlas demurred and Buck said she does not support the agency doing so except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the pregnant person’s life.
“Abortion procedures outside of those instances are considered more of an elective procedure, so they should not be the burden of a taxpayer,” Buck said.
Buck said she believes that the state should fund crisis pregnancy centers, or nonprofit organizations that provide counseling and other prenatal services from an anti-abortion perspective. They’ve been criticized for not referring women for abortion procedures and some have promoted debunked theories that the procedure can contribute to future infertility or breast cancer.
The centers offer “life-saving care,” Buck said.
