A candid discussion with Nevada’s governor
By Steve Sebelius, Nevada Public Radio
Gov. Brian Sandoval is a fan of history. And why not? He’s made a fair bit of it himself.
He was Nevada’s first Hispanic statewide elected official when he won the race for attorney general in 2002. He was the first Hispanic governor when he was elected in 2010. And he was the first person in state history to defeat an incumbent of his own party in a primary when he ousted then-Gov. Jim Gibbons.
He was also the first Republican governor to decide — after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — to expand Medicaid in Nevada and establish a state-based health insurance exchange. His support of the program was a factor as national Republicans debated an ultimately unsuccessful effort to dismantle it. And he was the governor who oversaw the implementation of the first tax on business revenue in state history in the unlikely crucible of a Republican-dominated state Legislature in 2015.