With few to no debates and only scattered advertisements and social media posts amid the coronavirus pandemic, it can be difficult to distill what candidates stand for and what they’d like to do if they win the office. 

That’s why The Nevada Independent is taking a closer look at candidates in a few major races, sitting down for a one-on-one conversation and breaking down where they stand on a few of the most pressing issues of the 2020 election. 

Today: An interview with veteran, insurance agent and Republican candidate for Congressional District 4 Sam Peters. 

In the last six months of the crowded Republican primary for District 4, Peters has emerged as a consistent fundraiser, often banking quarterly fundraising hauls in the tens-of-thousands. He has since earned the endorsements of the likes of Clinton era-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and rock star-turned conservative activist Ted Nugent, and entered the final weeks of the primary with more than $60,000 in cash on hand. 

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WHY RUN FOR CONGRESS?

Peters, who has campaigned as a staunchly pro-Trump conservative, criticized Congress for having failed to balance the federal budget and for having "stood in the way" on immigration issues, namely building the Trump Administration's long-sought-after border wall and increased funding for border security and immigration enforcement. 

Peters also accused Democrats of "vying for a socialist agenda."

"I spent 20 years in the Air Force," Peters said. "I deployed to the Middle East four times, earned a bronze star in Afghanistan, and I came back to fight socialism and open borders, on our soil. And that's not what I bargained for."

CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE AND RECOVERY

Peters was critical of the additional $600 added to unemployment benefits by the CARES Act, saying the funding had incentivized lower-paid workers not to go back to work. 

"I've talked to bosses in a number of different career fields that their employees won't come back to work until their unemployment runs out," Peters said. "So that's the effect of a socialist mindset."

Peters also said that the $1,200 economic stimulus payments also approved as part of coronavirus relief should have been made on an opt-in basis. 

"Quite frankly, I've talked to numbers and numbers of people where they didn't want it, and they didn't need it," Peters said. "And now we are in a spot where there's a projection of a $5 trillion deficit this year, on top of an already $24 trillion national debt. Those numbers are not sustainable in any way, shape, or form."

On the issue of coronavirus relief for small businesses, Peters said his priority would be to "get government out of the way."

"Business owners are very smart people," Peters said. "They know, generally speaking, right from wrong, and business owners know that they share in liability in running their business. Get out of the way, let them run their businesses, let them get their people back to work. Let's get the economy back up and running."

Peters added that high-risk or nervous populations could make the decision to continue locking down, and that "the government is not in place to control people and do what's going on."

HEALTH CARE

On health care, Peters called the Affordable Care Act ineffective "at nearly every level," charging that the health law had increased costs and reduced market competition overall. 

"'I'd like to see the ACA repealed in it in its entirety," Peters said. "We need to create a system where capitalism again thrives and there's competition in the marketplace. In that competition, the health care market has to be patient centric, it can no longer be hospital centric, doctor centric, government centric."

On the issue of protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions under a free-market system — a major sticking point that largely sunk efforts by Republicans to repeal the ACA in 2017 — Peters said he envisioned a system "that could do both," comparing possible government oversight of the health care industry to current regulatory structures of the auto insurance industry. 

"You can, I think, do that, including the pre-existing conditions and allow the marketplace to work as a free marketplace," Peters said. "Right now, with the government basically running the exchanges and all of those things, it's not effective, it is absolutely not effective."

IMMIGRATION

On immigration, one of the signature issues of his campaign, Peters said that "a country without borders is no country at all." 

"If we have open borders, and we flood the streets with people from all over the world, where does America begin? And where does America end? We don't know that answer," he said.

On the issue of the millions of undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S., Peters said that anyone who has "disrespected our laws by entering our country illegally" should be removed from the country and apply to enter through the legal immigration system, instead. 

However, Peters said of DREAMers, or those undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, that "there is a level of accountability" on the part of the U.S. if they have "tried to make the right steps to gain citizenship."

On the issue of legal immigration, which has been sharply reduced as part of a broader plan by the Trump Administration to cut the number of immigrants admitted to the U.S., Peters said "there is a carrying capacity to a country" and that, though he is "all for" legal immigration, there must also be limits on such immigration.

"It needs to be a process that we can not only manage, but it has to be one that makes sense," Peters said. "Also, I know the President has talked about allowing legal immigrants to come in that bring something to America, they're not coming to America to live off the government. They come to America with a skill and that kind of thing."

BIPARTISAN COMPROMISE

Of all the issues on his campaign platform, Peters said the one he was most likely to work with Democrats on achieving would be the implementation of congressional term limits. 

"The framers of the Constitution and the founders of this country did not put the Constitution together with the expectation that we would have career politicians running the federal government," Peters said. "The idea was, in my opinion and through the studies that I've done, citizen legislators legislate, be in touch with the people, represent the people, and that's what we need to get back to, not career politicians."

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

On whether or not there were issues where he breaks with the White House and Trump, Peters said the president has so far done "an incredible job," especially as he has weathered repeated congressional investigations and the "nightmare of a Democrat House."

"Should there be some oversight, should there be some investigations from time to time? Yes, there should," he said. "Should it be a constant, year after year, after year of investigations? I don't think there's that level of need. So, like I said, I support the president and his administration, and most importantly, I support America first."

On the issue of the president's tax returns — long a political football as congressional Democrats have tried to seek their release through official oversight channels — Peters said he didn't see how the returns "play into the job that he was elected to do."

"I don't think it's the American people's business, and quite frankly, I don't think the American people care," Peters said. "So, do I think Congress should be able to force him to do it? Not without due process."

For more on the 2020 primary elections, including maps, fundraising roundups, race breakdowns and more, visit our 2020 Elections page.