Tim Hanifan

Please share briefly what inspired you to run for this office and why you feel you’re qualified for the position.

I was reading the news, and similar reports kept appearing. I paused and reflected on what I was seeing. Issues I was told during my childhood would not arise until my 50s or 60s were starting to come to now–looking to our leaders and their response, and there is nothing but opposition or neglect.

I am running for congress to change the political conversation and address the issues we as a state and country face. For too long, our leaders have been concerned more with themselves than those they represent. I come from the working class, working 40 hour weeks to pay my bills. I believe my experiences working with everyday Nevadans while also working in customer service uniquely position me to contribute a needed, fresh voice to our State’s political conversation. I do not come from money, nor do I come from entrenched politics – it’s the uncommon voice, the voice of the people, which we lack today -- and I will bring this to Washington. I have a degree in chemistry, which will help offer a unique and needed perspective into our political system. I have a unique understanding of both the strengths and struggles of our working class in Northern Nevada.

What policies would you propose for dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our state’s economy?

The fundamental issue with ‘ghost guns’ is the lack of tracking or serializing of the kits or parts within. We must make serialization of kit guns and their parts mandatory to ensure they can and will be tracked and regulated as standard firearms are. We will be able to regulate and treat kits under the same scrutiny and policy of fully manufactured firearms, limiting children's’ and those prohibited access.

Nevada has historically protected the right to abortion, including protecting the right in statute 30 years ago by a vote of the people. However, there remain barriers to access in the state. Do you support not only the right to abortion but policies that improve equitable access to abortion care?

There are several policies we will work towards that would help alleviate future pandemics and help address some current issues. I will fight for a federal job guarantee to expand the available jobs and work. Further, we must work to put programs in place under government agencies that can be deployed in the events of future pandemics. If we can implement a rent collections and evictions delay system to be flexed in times of need, we may be able to address both pandemics and localized disasters across the country. Finally, we must work to be proactive in seeing pandemics evolve and prepare for them through social work programs and initiatives meant to support the working-class family in times of fear, as we saw during the pandemic.

The state of Nevada is facing an unprecedented shortage of health care providers – a problem that impacts every area of medicine, including the provision of sexual and reproductive care. Do you support removing the physician-only requirement and allowing advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to provide this vital care to patients with training and certification?

First, I must acknowledge this issue as a state issue and recognize the more limited actions to be taken at the federal level. However, a policy that would help both Nevada and other states would be to ensure minerals and materials extracted directly benefit the extraction areas. Too often, we see profits become consolidated and moved away from those who performed the work and harbored different environmental effects. I will fight to keep mining profits local and ensure a fair tax is paid back to those communities for the resources and people provided by local townships.

Comprehensive, age and developmentally appropriate, medically-accurate, inclusive sex education has been proven to improve students’ long-term health outcomes, yet it is not required that students be provided with this information in their sex-ed programs. Do you believe that public school sex-ed programs should be comprehensive, medically accurate, and inclusive?

I believe a person's right to choose what happens regarding their body and medical concerns should be paramount and protected. It is a right to healthcare and is no one's business but the woman and her doctors if she needs or chooses to get an abortion. I will work to removable barriers to access to health care regardless and ensure everyone has a right to a safe and healthy abortion with the proper resources and support before, during, and after if needed.

It is well documented that patients of color face greater obstacles to obtaining sexual and reproductive health care than non-Hispanic white Americans – a pattern that results in worse health outcomes overall for BIPOC patients. Do you not only acknowledge systemic racism’s role in public health disparities but will you pursue policies that seek to rectify the historical harm of systemic racism and advance equitable access to health care?

As someone who went through Northern Nevada's public school sex-ed programs, it seemed more focused on fear than actual education and safety. Comprehensive sex education drastically reduces unplanned pregnancies, reduces STD/STIs, and allows for our youth to develop at an appropriate rate with the knowledge to be safe and smart in today's world.

Knowing that the death penalty is exorbitantly expensive, racially discriminatory, and does not promote true healing for victims family members, do you support its abolition and do you think ending the death penalty is a crucial part of criminal justice reform?

I acknowledge the systematic racism within our healthcare system and the system as a whole. Throughout history, there has been subsection, co-option, and destruction or any success that people of color have faced. I support the removal of any barriers to access, will fight to the best of my ability for the expansion of access, and will support any policy which works to restore and bolsters any and all harmed or held back or affected by any form of systemic or historical racism, within and outside our healthcare system.

Anti-transgender bills are being introduced across the United States that attempt to trans prevent people from having access to health care, gender re-assignment surgery, and access to sports in schools. Do you support transgender equality and access to healthcare and an athletic school experience?

Revenge is not justice. The death penalty goes against the principle of rehabilitative justice. Leaders must lead through example, care, and compassion. The death penalty in the 21st century is immoral, and it is often used against people of color at an extraordinarily discriminatory rate. I fully support its abolition.

Nevada has a significant undocumented population, how will you ensure your office is accessible to all Nevadans?

First and foremost, we must work to protect those nations' sovereignty and land rights to prevent further governmental erosion. Our Native tribes and groups deserve a voice at the table to ensure their voices and needs are heard. I do support providing these communities with the needed funding and support. This support, however, must be without stipulation to allow the fund to support the nations and their communities where it's needed most. These communities need help, but it's not the government's place to tell them how to live; we must ensure they are represented at the table, heard, and assisted as needed.

How would you use your office to strengthen the rights of the undocumented population and their access to their legal protections, critical public services, and quality of life?

Yes. Workers who are here within the country, whether legally on work status, contribute to society. If they are law-abiding citizens, they are often trying to make an honest and better living for themselves and often risk their livelihood to get here. I believe if they are desperate enough to risk everything and come here for a better life, the least we can do is offer the same luxury and dream my Great Great Grandfather pursued coming to Nevada in 1907. I have immigrant roots on both sides of my family, following the American dream. These families were pursuing the same, and those with DACA and temporary protected status deserve nothing less but to stay. The US and Nevada are the home where they live, where they have known, they and their family have and would continue to contribute to our society.

Describe your understanding of the Confidential Address Program. What would be your approach to inform community members of this program?

Yes, Nevada’s hospitality and Gaming industry benefits significantly from temporary workers. As a backbone of our consumer economy, our temporary workers deserve the full rights and protections for which any other worker would be eligible. Further, workplace protections must be enforced and ensured for all employees, temporary workforce or not, as many horror stories and reports have come out of industrial northern Nevada.