Josh Hebert, Running to Topple Mark Amodei and to Get Big Money "Out of a Broken System"
As campaigns fine-tune strategizing ahead of the June 9th primary with early voting starting May 23rd, one of several Democratic candidates hoping to take Mark Amodei’s long held 2nd Congressional District seat, Josh Hebert reached out to Our Town Reno this week, giving candid details on who he is and what he stands for.
Hebert just released a 22-minute video on YouTube he has been promoting on social media as his campaign launch.
The 55-year-old says he’s a different kind of candidate, with a main emphasis on trying to fix what he calls a broken system corrupted by big money.
“I do not want to make promises that I can't keep because I don't believe that we can deliver on the things that we want to deliver on as long as the system is broken the way that it is. And we continue to have Democrats running for office on the things that they're going to deliver and then we fail to deliver on those things because the system is broken. And the reason that the system is broken is because of big money,” he explained in a half hour phone interview.
“Anytime we try and do something that big money doesn't like, big money blocks it or we get something that doesn't really deliver for us that very well. Like the Affordable Care Act is the perfect example. The Affordable Care Act we got that through only with the permission of the insurance industry, which is why it's fundamentally still built around the insurance industry.
It hasn't been very effective at keeping health care prices down and it's a perfect example of how big money corrupts the system. So as a candidate, I am running on trying to do those things that will get the system working. So I am consciously trying to launch a social movement to get big money out of politics because that's what it's going to take. So it's a crazy thing to do and I recognize that and it's a low probability of success, but I'm going to try to encourage people to join in this effort so we can get this movement started because this is the fight that we have to pick.”
He says other Democratic candidates such as Blue Wave America operative Matt Fonken, might have “the inside track on the local connections and the local fundraising,” but that he plans to lean on social media messaging, including people on the street videos.
“I’m going to be in my community where I live to show how people can build the communities that we want right in our own neighborhoods, right outside our own front door and I'm going to put that all on camera to show people as part of this effort of trying to get the Republic working better. I am really motivated to do that,” he said.
Hebert who lives in the Mae Anne area, was born in Reno and then moved to Las Vegas with his family after he says his dad committed suicide. He talks about being a medicated bipolar person himself, “running openly as a bipolar person,” as part of the honesty he brings.
He’s worked as a grip and electrician in the film industry in the Bay Area, “but I had to stop doing that because I had a chronic shoulder injury because I was also a very serious martial artist.” He went back to school to get a PhD degree in physics at UT Austin, before working in e-learning and now in a company reviewing AI output, while being based here.
His younger kid has started college, so he feels the timing is right both for him and in terms of the current stakes.
“I don't even know if there's going to be another election,” he said. “Like things are so up in the air right now. So I feel compelled to do this now.”
He also felt it was the right time to return to the Silver State last year, and start this new adventure.
“Both sides of my family are from Nevada. My grandfather was a pit boss at the Flamingo Hilton. And they moved here from Chicago, He was literally a gangster,” he says.
His mom joined the Army in the 1970s, he says, which took his family out of Nevada into the Bay Area. He used to spend summers in the area though with his other grandfather who worked as a local pharmacist in Reno.
Having had a western upbringing, he says, has put him in tune with water rights and mining issues.
“We can rewrite the 1872 mining law so that we actually get some royalties out of what's getting being taken out of Nevada's earth. That can make a huge difference here in Nevada for local communities, all over the place. And we can do that without threatening the mining industry because the mining industry is used to paying royalties all over the world. They get an incredible deal here in Nevada. But again, this is another example of something that's never going to change until we get big money out of politics. Because people have been talking about rewriting this law for a long time now and it just doesn't get done,” he said.
Asked about his would be competitor if he makes it to November, he was critical of Republican Mark Amodei who has been in the seat since 2011, in what is considered a red district, with so many rural voters.
“He's just a comfortable backbencher who's going to go along to get along,” Hebert says of Amodei.
“And we can't have representatives like that anymore. Things need to change. We need to elect people who are willing to shake things up and try to make that change happen. And one of the things that I've done in my life is that I always do things differently,” Hebert said.
He says this could be the election cycle to finally topple Amodei.
“This is a time when crazy things are happening. A change is possible in moments like this. We see a lot of bad stuff happening right now, but because things are up in the air and there is so much uncertainty, this is an opportunity for somebody who is new and different to break through,” Hebert said.
He admits the reputation of the Democratic Party is “not great … but we need Democratic candidates who are going to step up and try and do things differently and appeal to people in different ways.”
Hebert says rural voters “have needs that aren't being met and I think Democrats can have a strong message on that and I intend to. So we will find out if that works or not. I don't talk down to people. I meet people where they are. I'm nice to everyone. If people disagree with me I don't think that makes them a bad person. I understand that I have my world view and that other people have their world view. Mine is not going to change. Their world view is not going to change. But we just need to find ways to relate to each other because we all have to live in this country and make it work for all of us.”
Other parts of the interview focussed on modifying the Affordable Care Act: “at this point, I think we need to go to Medicare for all…”, accessible housing: “we need to be experimenting in ways to scale up housing production quickly. And Congress can put money behind those kinds of experiments … to find out what works so we can scale that up…,” halting new data center approvals and the future of AI: “we don't want super intelligence. We need to be talking about this at the federal level. Right now we have a bunch of billionaire tech bros with questionable commitments to humanity making decisions about all of our futures. Congress needs to be weighing in so that the people can have a voice and we need people in Congress who understand this industry and this issue who can do that intelligently.”
In concluding, he wanted to reiterate his drive to get big money out of politics.
“I believe that people will only become more alienated and more disenchanted with the system because we will continue to fail to deliver on our promises until we get this done. So, I think the survival of the Republic depends on doing something about big money in politics. So, that's the main reason that I'm running this campaign.”
Others in the Democratic primary include “rural educator” Kathy Durham, who writes on her Facebook campaign page with only five following so far “No more identity politics, partisan culture wars or divisive extremism. Just common sense solutions to every day problems that matter to all of us. Standing up for NV02.” Morgan Wadsworth who also has a Facebook page says she wants “to shake up the status quo [as a] 6th-generation Nevadan, UNR student, and fierce advocate for rural communities, working people, and a government that works for us.”
Feel free to share this article on below social media:
