Steve Sisolak

Name

Steve Sisolak

Occupation

Governor of Nevada

Political Office

Governor of Nevada

Political Affiliation

Democrat

How would you describe yourself to voters?

I was born into a midwest working-class family. My parents Ed and Mary worked hard to provide for their three children and I inherited their blue-collar ethic, working full-time to put myself through college at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After graduating, I enrolled in UNLV’s Graduate Studies Program, where I received a master’s degree in 1978.

I put down roots in Las Vegas, built a communications business and created hundreds of jobs while raising two daughters as a single father. Both of my daughters attended Nevada’s public high schools and UNLV, where Ashley earned her law degree and Carley earned her master’s degree. In 2018, I married my wife Kathy Sisolak.

What do you see as the top issues in this campaign?

My top issues are supporting Nevada families by lowering costs, strengthening our schools to make sure every student has the same chance to succeed, and building a clean economy that works for everyone and protects our environment for future generations.

We’ve already made significant progress on these issues - but there’s more we can do in a second term to move our state forward.

We’ll get the job done by investing in housing affordability, lowering the cost of health care and high-quality child care, and keeping Nevada a low tax state. Wages are up, but we can do more to ensure every workers’ paycheck in our state matches the cost of living.

In a second term, I want to give our teachers another raise and address our teacher shortage by updating our salary standards. Those investments will come on top of making sure we continue funding our students at the highest level in state history.

We will revolutionize our workforce by making community college and other apprenticeship programs free for more Nevadans by 2025 and connecting Nevadans to job retraining programs. We’ll also cut bureaucratic red tape to help our businesses get off the ground quicker and easier than ever, and we’ll invest in clean energy to keep Nevada the solar capital of the country and preserve our natural resources.

Through these steps, we’ll improve quality of life for Nevadans, support our families, and make sure Nevada remains an inclusive and forward-thinking state for years to come.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate Governor Sisolak's handling of the pandemic? Why?

I prioritized lives and livelihoods in every decision I made during the pandemic. These decisions were not easy, and I spent many sleepless nights seeking guidance through my faith. The only number that comes to mind when I think about our response is the 10,000 Nevadans we lost due to COVID. As governor, I knew I could never make everyone happy, but I do know our response protected as many lives as possible.

But despite the challenges, we never lost focus. We continued to invest in our state, our roads and bridges, our schools, our environment and our economy.

During the pandemic, we distributed over $100 million in PETS grants to nearly 9,400 Nevada businesses and organizations. More than half of those grants went to businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, or disabled Nevadans.

When our students switched to remote learning, we supported our students and teachers by getting every student in the state connected to the internet while they studied from home and provided an additional $200 million in federal funds towards getting our kids caught up following COVID.

Because we stayed vigilant, our economy is now recovering at one of the fastest rates in the country. We’ve been ranked as having the best economic momentum for two quarters in a row, our unemployment rate has dropped for 23 consecutive months, our hospitals are no longer overwhelmed by COVID patients, tourism is up and - more importantly - wages are, too.

As governor, what specific steps will you take to improve education in Nevada?

Both of my daughters attended Nevada public schools and I know firsthand that strong schools are key to supporting our families and economy. We’ve made significant progress prioritizing our schools over the last three years - but I know we need to do more to make sure every kid can receive a world-class education no matter where they live.

Since taking office, we updating Nevada’s 50-year old education funding formula to fund education at its highest level in state history, gave our teachers their first raise in over a decade, hired nearly 2,000 additional teachers, partnered with nonprofits to give teachers more money to purchase school supplies, and invested millions in school safety, student mental health, and school violence reduction initiatives.

Our work is far from over - and I’m committed to doing everything I can to support our students and teachers by:

Hiring more teachers to address shortages - this includes giving our teachers another raise and ensuring we’re paying our teachers what they deserve.

Investing in summer school, tutoring, and teaching aids to get our kids caught up and keep our schools on the right track.

Making community college, apprenticeships, and job training programs free for more Nevadans by 2025.

Ensuring every school in Nevada can provide free lunch for all students.

Through these steps, we will make our schools stronger, get our kids on the path to success, and grow our economy by creating a top-tier workforce.

In many ways, Nevada’s economy has recovered from the pandemic. However, the state has seen some of the fastest growing home and rent prices in the country, more than 10,000 former casino workers are still out of work and inflation threatens to undermine the state’s working families. As governor, what would you do to protect the economic interest of Nevada’s families?

From investing in infrastructure to create good-paying jobs, supporting our small businesses, and recruiting new industries to our state, we’ve made significant progress growing our economy and supporting our families over the last three years.

Despite our progress, I know times are still tough for many Nevadans. Costs are rising, and, while I can’t address national inflation issues, I promise to do everything in my power to lower the cost of living and keep taxes low to support our families.

That’s why we made the single largest investment in housing in our state's history this year by launching the Home Means Nevada initiative, invested over $200 million in child care, and are taking steps to lower the cost of prescription drugs and health care services.

But there’s more we can do to strengthen our economy and put more money back in our families’ pockets. We’ll get the job done by:

Investing in education at all levels to ensure our workforce is prepared and Nevada remains an attractive state for families to put down roots. This includes making community college and more apprenticeship programs free to more Nevadans by 2025 so we can retrain our workforce and connect Nevadans to highpaying, available jobs.

Recruiting new businesses and industries to the Silver State. We’ve already been successful in these efforts: since 2019, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development has recruited 80 companies from various industries to Nevada, creating over 11,700 high-paying jobs over the next five years and investing $2.1 billion in our state. We’ll also continue investing in clean energy and solar/wind power to create new jobs and make Nevada not just #1 in solar, but the energy capital of the world.

Supporting our small businesses, making Nevada the breeding ground for innovative start-ups, and providing early support for our entrepreneurs.