Rick Shepherd for Congress. Challenging Mark Amodei in the 2026 Republican Primary

I’m Rick Shepherd, a Northern Nevada resident challenging Mark Amodei in the 2026 Republican Primary for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District. I stand for America First policies that reject the failures of both parties: endless wars, open borders, and special-interest control, including AIPAC’s influence.

Mark Amodei has missed 323 of 8,134 roll call votes (4.0%) from September 2011 to November 2025. That is double the 2.0% median among current representatives. His absences spike during critical periods, leaving Nevadans unrepresented while he serves donor interests. Amodei’s top contributors for 2023-2024 include defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp ($20,900), Meruelo Group ($19,800), and American Israel Public Affairs Cmte ($13,750). He has consistently voted for unconditional billions in Israel aid.

I take no special-interest money and no foreign lobby cash. I am accountable only to Nevada voters.

Both parties have betrayed average Americans by sending endless aid to Israel while it continues occupation and what many call genocide in Gaza. I am pro-Palestine, anti-AIPAC, and anti-Zionist. We must end the occupation, stop the Gaza genocide, and halt all U.S. funding of Israeli apartheid. American tax dollars should serve Americans, not foreign lobbies.

Nevadans face real crises: crushing medical debt from skyrocketing healthcare costs, choking wildfire smoke that blankets our cities, and good jobs lost to H-1B visa abuse that undercuts American workers with cheap foreign labor. Northern Nevada sits on the world’s richest lithium deposits, yet we import batteries while our communities suffer.

My solutions are straightforward. Fight healthcare price gouging and end medical debt burdens. Secure our borders, deport illegal immigrants, expand legal immigration pathways, and stop H-1B abuse that displaces Nevadans. Harness our lithium wealth for true energy independence through solar, batteries, renewables, and advanced Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) for safe, efficient, domestic power and high-paying jobs. No corporate bailouts or subsidies. Just free-market competition.

No more Pentagon bloat funding forever wars. No more absent representatives ignoring constituents for donor perks. No more foreign entanglements over American needs.

The status quo serves Zionists, war profiteers, and open-borders globalists. I will put Nevada families and America first.

Vote Rick Shepherd in the 2026 Republican Primary. Break the corruption. Prioritize our people. Build a stronger, independent future.