Former Nevada State Senator James Settelmeyer has entered the Republican primary for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, but his record in Carson City reads less like that of a conservative and more like that of a Mitt Romney-style Republican who repeatedly sided with Democrats when it mattered most.
Settelmeyer, a rancher from Gardnerville and longtime fixture in Nevada politics, is already attempting to position himself as the “local” candidate in the race. What his campaign announcement does not mention is a legislative voting history packed with support for policies pushed by Democrats, unions, and progressive activists.
One of the most alarming votes came when Settelmeyer supported Nevada’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
The ERA has been championed by the abortion lobby for decades because of its legal implications. By eliminating legal distinctions based on sex, courts could use the amendment to strike down abortion restrictions nationwide as discriminatory. In practical terms, the ERA functions as a constitutional weapon for the pro-abortion movement.
It also opens the door to drafting young women into military service under Selective Service requirements and gives federal courts sweeping authority over gender ideology issues ranging from biological sex distinctions to same-sex marriage policy. Conservatives have fought the ERA for generations because of those consequences.
Settelmeyer voted for it anyway.
His record also includes support for Senate Bill 267, legislation that pushed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy deeper into the Nevada government. The bill required state agencies to examine race and gender representation in workplaces and develop policies around those metrics.
In plain terms, it advanced the DEI bureaucracy that conservatives across the country have been working to dismantle. These frameworks routinely lead to race-based and gender-based hiring quotas while punishing merit-based systems.
Settelmeyer also backed Assembly Bill 168, a bill that restricted school disciplinary authority.
Across the country, schools are facing rising violence, disruptive behavior, and collapsing classroom order. Teachers have repeatedly warned that progressive discipline reforms leave them powerless to deal with dangerous students. AB168 moved Nevada further down that path, weakening educators’ and administrators’ authority while classrooms became increasingly chaotic.
Settelmeyer supported that legislation as well.
His healthcare votes also aligned with policies conservatives spent years fighting in Washington.
Settelmeyer voted for Assembly Bill 170, legislation designed to preserve key mandates from the Affordable Care Act at the state level. In simple terms, he voted to keep Obamacare style regulations embedded in Nevada law.
For Republican voters who watched their party campaign for years on repealing Obamacare, that vote is difficult to square with any claim of conservative leadership.
Settelmeyer’s record on abortion funding is just as troubling.
In 2019 he voted for Senate Bill 94, legislation increasing taxpayer funding for family planning programs that include abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. At a time when pro-life voters across the country were pushing to defund the abortion industry, Settelmeyer voted to send it more public money.
The pattern extends to fiscal policy.
Settelmeyer supported Senate Bill 1, the legislation that dumped hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into the Las Vegas Raiders stadium deal. The project became one of the largest corporate subsidy packages in Nevada history.
He also voted for Assembly Bill 1, which showered incentives on the Faraday Future electric vehicle company. That project later collapsed, leaving taxpayers holding the bag while politicians who approved the subsidies quietly moved on.
Settelmeyer even sided with unions by voting for Senate Bill 406, which expanded prevailing wage mandates that drive up the cost of public construction projects and hand more power to organized labor.
Taken together, the record paints a clear picture. Time and again, when major conservative issues reached the floor in Carson City, Settelmeyer broke the wrong direction.
James Settlmeyer also worked against Republican interests by supporting Ranked Choice Voting and Open primaries, a scheme designed to elect more moderate and unprincipled candidates.
That reality creates a stark contrast in the emerging Republican primary.
Some candidates in the race, including Air Force Lt. Colonel David Flippo, are running openly as America First conservatives aligned with the populist movement reshaping the Republican Party.
Flippo has been endorsed by many of the MAGA-movement’s champions, like Turning Point Action, Moms For America, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Flippo, however, entered the race after pulling out of Nevada’s 4th, for which he has drawn criticism.
Settelmeyer represents the opposite model. A longtime local political figure whose record shows repeated votes for policies tied to DEI, taxpayer subsidies, union mandates, Obamacare regulations, and increased funding for Planned Parenthood.
For Republican voters in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, the choice may come down to a simple question.
Is it more important to elect someone who has lived locally for decades, or someone whose record consistently reflects conservative principles?
That question will likely define the battle for NV-02 as the primary begins to unfold.
