MESQUITE, Nevada — A veteran pol who could be relaxing at the massive Sun City retirement community here to view sunsets over the mesas is instead out stumping for votes to try to flip a volatile key district red again.
John Lee, 69 — a former state legislator and ex-North Las Vegas mayor — was once a Democrat.
But three years ago, disappointed with his party’s policies, Lee jumped ship, garnering national attention as he became the first elected official to leave the Democrats during the Biden administration.
He is now trying to unseat Dem US Rep. Steven Horsford, 51, in the 4th district, which by area, “is probably the second-largest district in the country,” Lee said.
“I was the mayor of [North Las Vegas] when there was nowhere to go eat,” he told The Post in a recent interview at the lone Starbucks outlet in Mesquite, a retiree-laden town of 23,000. “I brought in 31 restaurants.
“I was the mayor of the town when we had no choice in schools. Now, we have 31 charter schools.
“I’ve done everything I can to make sure that the quality of life of people in North Las Vegas is as good as anywhere else in the valley,” he said.
Lee said top Nevada Republicans Gov. Joe Lombardo and Rep. Mark Amodei urged him to run for Congress, as did House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.).
The candidate said Donald Trump also telephoned and urged him to run.
Lee, a former plumbing-company owner, said his record of accomplishment in North Las Vegas, a city of more than 280,000 whose World War II-era aerial gunnery school would evolve into Nellis Air Force Base, speaks for itself.
Beyond North Las Vegas, where the bulk of 4th District residents live, is a vast swath of rural areas that are heavily Republican: Lincoln County, Overton, Logan, the Moapa Valley, Nye County, Esmeralda County, Monroe County, and Lyon County, near the state capitol in Carson City.
The Fourth District has sent Horsford to Congress four times. Before that, Republican Crescent Hardy won the seat in 2014, and Democrat Ruben Kihuen then took it back two years later.
The back-and-forth maneuvering between parties suggests its an area that could once again flip red, a veteran political consultant said.
Economic issues combined with Lee’s popularity as a former local mayor and his dogged campaigning might make the difference, the source said.
Lee claimed Horsford has been absent as a congressman.
“Nobody knows him. He’s not ever anywhere,” the pol said.
During the global pandemic, Horsford “never called up and said during COVID, ‘What can I do to help small businesses? What can I do to help my people?’ Nothing. Crickets,” Lee claimed.
Horsford’s office promised The Post an interview, but one has yet to come through.
As to the Democrat’s proposal to eliminate service workers’ tips from federal income tax, Lee said, “That’s President Trump’s thing, which I think is great.
“This was never [Horsford’s] idea.’’
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