The race for Assembly District 41 between Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) and Republican business owner Rafael Arroyo is set to be a competitive one and key to whether Democrats can hold a two-thirds supermajority in the Assembly.
Assembly District 41, which straddles St. Rose Parkway and includes parts of Henderson and unincorporated parts of Clark County, has long leaned Democratic. About 32 percent of the 55,000 voters in the district are registered as Democrats, while 26 percent are registered Republicans and the other 32 percent are nonpartisan.
Jauregui, 41, has been a state lawmaker since 2016 and currently is the Democratic majority leader — the third-highest-ranking member of the Nevada Assembly. The California native moved to Nevada decades ago to attend UNLV and got roped into Nevada politics, interning for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
Afterwards, she worked for Nevada nonprofits focused on helping people affected by the foreclosure crisis and politicians including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). She currently works for Hilltop Public Solutions, a political consulting firm.
Reid’s legacy continues to influence her, Jauregui said.
“One of his biggest things is labor till the work is done,” she said. “I think that’s a work ethic I’ve carried with me.”
Arroyo is a political newcomer relative to Jauregui, but contends that his background as a small-business owner will give him a leg up in understanding constituents’ economic concerns. The 39-year-old was born in Puerto Rico, but moved to Las Vegas as a child when his mom got a job as a teacher at the Clark County School District — something that continues to influence his understanding of Nevada’s education system.
“I found out if you don’t get involved with the government, the government is going to get involved with you,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo has been endorsed by Gov. Joe Lombardo and has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump. Arroyo was on stage as a participant in a North Las Vegas roundtable during the weekend featuring Trump and Latino voters.
Despite Arroyo’s high-level endorsements, Jauregui has significantly outraised her GOP opponent, a key predictor of victory. She brought in about $130,000 in the third quarter, while Arroyo posted a haul of $38,000.
ON THE POLICIES
Education
School choice programs such as Nevada’s Opportunity Scholarships have been a lightning rod issue since their creation in 2015 and are likely to come up again during the next legislative session. Opportunity Scholarships, funded by businesses that donate to them in exchange for a tax credit, subsidize the cost of attending private schools for eligible low- and middle-income students but have limited enrollment and strict income eligibility requirements.
Jauregui said that the government shouldn’t “disrupt the education” of students who are currently receiving Opportunity Scholarships, although she opposes school choice options.
“Public dollars should stay in public schools,” Jauregui said.
Arroyo, like other GOP candidates, is a proponent of school choice programs, citing the success of states such as Florida where enrollment at charter and private schools has ballooned. Arroyo argues that school choice programs also hold schools “accountable” for their performance.
Tax credits
Jauregui has long been a proponent of tax credits for the film industry, leading efforts to introduce them in Nevada.
In June, Jauregui submitted a bill draft request to revive the Nevada Studio Infrastructure, Jobs and Workforce Training Act — a proposal that would expand film tax credits and create a workforce training program — in the upcoming legislative session.
“I believe in bringing new industries into our economy,” Jauregui said. “The film industry is an industry that’s going to bring high-paying, six-figure-paying jobs to Nevada.”
Arroyo expressed hesitancy about tax credits for Nevada’s burgeoning film industry, saying it comes down to the “individual deal.” Although he believes that expanding the film industry could help diversify Nevada’s economy, he worries that it won’t end up benefiting working-class Nevadans.
”If we can protect Nevadans and make sure they’re getting a good deal, then it’s a win-win for everyone,” Arroyo said.
Gun control
As a survivor of the 1 October mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, Jauregui said that “gun reform” is one of her main priorities as a legislator.
While in the Legislature, Jauregui has shepherded legislation expanding universal background checks, banning bump stops, banning ghost guns, and enacting red flag laws that allow police or family members to ask for a court protection order preventing high-risk individuals from having guns.
As she heads into this year’s legislative session, she said she will continue to fight for such policies.
“I hope that when I leave the Legislature, I can say that my work around gun violence prevention has made our state a safer place,” she said.
Arroyo said he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and that he believes having access to firearms is key to self-defense.
“The police can’t guarantee your safety when there’s a situation,” Arroyo said.
Health care
Jauregui is a proponent of allowing the state to adopt drug prices negotiated by Medicare, a measure that legislative Democrats plan to reintroduce in 2025 after Lombardo vetoed the bill AB250 in 2023.
“I think that’s a policy area that we need to work on, whether it’s AB250 or whether it’s [pharmacy benefit manager] reform and really making sure that those rebates are getting passed down to the consumers,” Jauregui said.
Arroyo says that his top priority in the health care sphere is improving the state’s mental health system (Nevada is among the lowest-ranked states), especially for unhoused people.
“There’s a lot of pressure on people, and maybe people turn to substances to deal with their stress and the pressure,” Arroyo said.
Housing
In her previous terms, Jauregui has worked on an array of housing reforms throughout Nevada.
She sponsored AB213, a bill that aimed to prioritize and incentivize affordable housing development, and AB298, which would have required landlords to refund application fees to prospective tenants who were not selected to rent the property, although that bill was ultimately vetoed by Lombardo.
Arroyo is a supporter of the bipartisan effort to open up federal land for housing development, contending that Nevada’s current housing affordability crisis is an “issue of supply and demand.” He also contends that there is too much bureaucratic red tape in opening up these developments.
Voter ID
Jauregui opposes Question 7, the voter ID initiative on this year’s ballot, contending that it is a part of a larger GOP effort to undermine elections and voting.
Like other GOP candidates, Arroyo favors voter ID laws and believes that it will further instill confidence in the election system during a time when trust in election integrity is low among the general public. Arroyo contends that Nevada’s proposed voter ID initiative is relatively lax compared with his native Puerto Rico, where eligible residents are required to have voter registration cards.
Arroyo also dismissed claims that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election — a belief that many other GOP candidates have espoused.
