Health care and education dominated the discussion during a rare joint appearance by three of the top candidates for Nevada’s most competitive congressional seat.

The Hispanics in Politics meeting on Wednesday featuring three candidates for the state’s competitive 3rd Congressional District — Republicans Scott Hammond and Victoria Seaman and Democrat Susie Lee — nearly a year ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

The district, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Jacky Rosen, is the state’s closest in terms of voter registration and is a major target for both political parties.

During a question-and-answer session and in follow-up interviews with The Nevada Independent, the candidates revealed their positions on congressional Republican efforts to overhaul the tax code, what should be done for recipients of a shuttered program protecting undocumented minors from deportation and whether Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore should drop out of his race following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.

Scott Hammond

A longtime teacher and prominent backer of the contentious voucher-style Educational Savings Account program, Hammond spent much of his question-and-answer time discussing his background and a variety of education topics.

But in a follow-up interview with The Nevada Independent, Hammond expanded on several other topics including his opposition to a set of national education standards and potential restrictions on the use of “bump stock” weapon modifications.

Asked whether Moore should step down from the Alabama Senate race amid allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls, Hammond said he was primarily focused on running his congressional race and didn’t want to tell Alabama voters what to do — but expressed discomfort with the allegations surrounding Moore.

“Do I condone someone who’s committed sexual assault, or battered a woman? No, not at all, it’s abhorrent, I don’t agree with that at all,” he said. “But again, I don’t know all the details, and it’s going to be up to those residents of Alabama, and up to those voters.”

The Republican also expanded on a recent Twitter post touting his efforts to “roll back Common Core,” the set of national educational standards adopted by Nevada in 2010 and opposed by several education advocates.

Hammond, who in 2015 sponsored a bill that would have rolled back the standards and testified in support of a similar Assembly bill (neither passed out of committee), said he understood the goal of Common Core backers but would work in Congress to give states more flexibility on testing standards.

“I think that it’s really difficult to have a standard for everybody in the United States to be on the same page,” he said. “The state makes those decisions. What we want to make sure on the federal level is allow them to have flexibility to do that.”

Though he received an “A” grade from the National Rifle Association in 2016 and said he was a strident 2nd Amendment supporter, Hammond said he would be interested in looking into restrictions or a ban on “bump stock” devices used to increase the rate of fire for semiautomatic weapons.

“I don’t think we should be allowing devices that enhance the ability of a weapon to be used in the sense of an automatic weapon,” he said.

Hammond also said he would support some kind of protection for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program cancelled by President Donald Trump, but said he was cautious to engage in specifics before entering Congress.

“They’re here, their parents brought them here, this is the only country they’ve known, the only culture really that they’ve been around for a significant amount of time,” he said. “It’s our duty that we get this settled and settled quickly so they don’t have to worry being deported to a country they’ve never lived in.”

Hammond said he was opposed to a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients as part of a “clean” fix, but would be open to it as part of a larger immigration overhaul bill.

He also said that he generally would support current Republican-led efforts to overhaul the tax code and slash tax rates for corporations and individuals, saying that decades had passed since the last major taxation change.

“In general, absolutely, I would vote for it,” he said. “Look, we haven’t changed the tax structure since I was in high school playing varsity basketball.”

Susie Lee

Lee, a community activist and prominent Las Vegas philanthropist, focused more on federal issues than any other candidate on Wednesday, touting her opposition to the Republican-led tax plan that she said would primarily benefit big businesses and the wealthy.

In a follow-up interview, she stressed that she supported a simplified tax code and lowering rates, but said the current proposals didn’t go far enough.

“Listen, lowering taxes is good,” she said. “But it’s who it’s being lowered for, who are the beneficiaries of lowering the taxes. I’d like to see it spread more evenly and benefit more people more equally. It’s pretty lopsided.”

Lee also sharply defended the DACA program, noting that she worked with several of the program recipients as part of her work with nonprofits in the Las Vegas area.

“The repeal of DACA is a barbaric decision that is aimed to divide this country, it is based on fear, and it is putting people in a state of fear,” she said. “I am all for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship, and we need to focus on that and not stop until we get that.”

Lee said she wanted to improve the Affordable Care Act, mentioning her support for a stalled bipartisan agreement to continue cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers, and said she wanted to work to reduce the price of prescription drugs.

But the candidate declined to say whether or not she’s support either a public option — a government-run health insurance alternative to other private plans on the market — or transition to a full, single-payer health-care system.

“We have the Affordable Care Act in place,” she said. “We all agree it is not perfect, and I think we need to take a step-by-step approach to repair that and fix that.”

Despite holding a fundraiser with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi last month, Lee also declined to say whether or not she would support Pelosi as minority leader if elected to the House.

“I really can’t make that decision until I get to Washington,” she said.

Victoria Seaman

The former state assemblywoman, who lost a close state Senate race in 2016, mostly stuck to her accomplishments during the 2015 legislative session, including bills reforming the state’s guardianship system and increasing penalties and police oversight on squatters. She also said she was proud to vote against the Commerce Tax, a controversial levy on business revenue over $4 million a year that was approved in 2015.

Seaman did say she would “absolutely” support a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and in a follow-up interview said she supported the current Republican-led effort to overhaul the tax code but disagreed with proposals eliminating deductions on home mortgages and medical expenses.

“I personally am for a tax cut across the board, and leave those deductions alone,” she said.

Seaman declined to say whether she would support restrictions or a ban on “bump stock” devices — used by gunman Stephen Paddock in the mass killing of 58 concert-goers in Las Vegas last month — saying she hadn’t studied the issue.

She also said she was “grateful” that President Donald Trump had moved to end DACA and given the decision-making power back to Congress.

“Now that President Trump has rescinded it and brought it to Congress, where it should be done properly, I’m grateful, because we have to do something,” she said. “Now it’s in the proper place to do it, and if it’s an issue when I’m in Washington D.C., then that’s something that I have to look at.”

Seaman also declined to comment much on the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

“Actually, I don’t think somebody should be tried and convicted in the public opinion, and that’s really all I can say about that,” she said.