Meet the 8 Democrats running in Nevada's 2nd Congressional District

A Democrat has never won the 2nd Congressional District, which spans Northern Nevada and is considered deeply conservative. But Rep. Mark Amodei's (R-NV) retirement announcement and a favorable political environment for Democrats has nonetheless created a crowded primary. 

Those running in it believe 2026 will be their best chance to flip the seat. 

There's no public polling of the race, but most sources who spoke to The Nevada Independent consider wealthy investor Greg Kidd (D), a self-funder who got 36 percent of the vote running as a nonpartisan in 2024, and former state Assm. Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D-Reno) the front-runners in the eight-person primary. 

In an interview with The Nevada Independent, Kidd said his internal polling shows the two "basically tied," though his campaign declined to share it. Former West Wendover City Councilmember Kathy Durham (D) is expected to perform well in the rurals.

The primary has been shaped by anger at national Democrats, including over Nevada senators' votes to end last year's government shutdown and continue providing aid to Israel, as well as the perception that they have not stood up to President Donald Trump. Affordability is a chief concern, with the candidates assigning blame for high costs to various factors such as the Iran war, the consolidation of corporate power and billionaires. 

The eight Democrats in the race have promised to hold Trump accountable, expressed support for data center moratoriums and shunned money from pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC. They have also acknowledged the challenge of winning the GOP-leaning district, with some focused on winning over Republicans and others emphasizing new policies that could energize low-propensity voters. The latest data from the secretary of state shows registered Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 3 to 2 and The Cook Political Report rates it solidly Republican.

As part of a pact to consolidate around one "antiestablishment" Democrat, two candidates (Samuel White (D) and Josh Hebert (D)) dropped out of the race earlier this month and endorsed 27-year-old student Morgan Wadsworth (D). Another party to the pact, Mark Jolle (D), withdrew a few days later without endorsing a candidate. They will still appear on the ballot but are no longer campaigning.

"It became increasingly clear that remaining in could contribute to splitting the vote in a way that might advantage a billionaire candidate whom I do not believe represents the interests of ordinary Nevadans," Jolle wrote in an email to The Nevada Independent.

Here are some resources to learn more.

Nevada Rural Dems Youtube Channel: Road Tour Videos

Nevada Current: And then there were 8. Democratic field narrows slightly in race for CD2.

RGJ: 11 Democrats on NV primary ballot vie to flip Amodei seat in US House

Nevada Appeal: 2026 Primary Election: U.S. House of Representatives - Democrats

Nevada Newsmakers: Debate Part 1 - Kathy Durham, Greg Kidd, Teresa Benitez-Thompson

Nevada Newsmakers: Debate Part 2 - Kathy Durham, Greg Kidd, Teresa Benitez-Thompson

And you can click the below links to scroll to a specific candidate:

Greg Kidd

Teresa Benitez-Thompson

Kathy Durham

Matthew Fonken

Morgan Wadsworth

Gamaliel "Gamy" Zavala Enriquez

Johnny Kerns

Gerold Lee Gorman

Greg Kidd

Kidd was already running when Amodei announced his retirement. He's been targeted by attacks from other candidates in the race over a net worth that reaches at least hundreds of millions and allowed him to self-fund his 2024 campaign to the tune of $9.2 million. 

But he has also advocated for many progressive positions. One of his top priorities is single-payer health care. He has said he doesn't like the system that lets candidates sway elections with money, and thinks "data centers aren't a good fit for Nevada," and that "a moratorium is not enough." 

Speaking to The Indy about Gaza, he said, "I do think it's a genocide, and it has been for quite some time." He has argued, "If Israel is not on board with a two-state solution, we should stop sending money that way." He also supports a guest worker program for immigrants and a tax on luxury goods. 

From starting a bike messenger business to working for the Federal Reserve to founding venture capital firm Hard Yaka, he told The Indy he has a deep understanding of technology that will help him take on big banks and Big Tech. 

"I would be at the forefront of regulation of AI to make sure it isn't used for surveillance, it's not autonomous kill machines, there's always a real person behind everything, a lot of commonsense-type stuff," he said. "But you need to do that at the federal level with a global point of view."

Kidd won Rep. Susie Lee's (D-NV) endorsement hours before news broke that Benitez-Thompson was considering a bid. He has repeatedly promised to support whoever emerges from the primary and is not taking outside money, though he loaned his campaign only about half a million through March, per his most recent quarterly Federal Election Commission report.

Recently, he launched a program to match donations to the state Democratic Party's get-out-the-vote efforts.

KUNR: Meet Greg Kidd: Democratic candidate for Nevada's CD2

KRNV: Meet Greg Kidd, Democrat running in Nevada Congressional District 2

KTVN: Greg Kidd on running for Nevada CD2 seat

This Is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Greg Kidd

Teresa Benitez-Thompson

Benitez-Thompson is a former Assembly majority leader, social worker and Miss America contestant who most recently served as chief of staff to Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D). Her current campaign focuses on restoring the social safety net, returning federal money to Nevada and fighting back against Trump. 

She has endorsements from labor, including the influential Culinary Union Local 226, and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV). She is also backed by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund. She has at times broken with prominent Nevada Democrats, for instance, in saying she would have voted for resolutions to limit aid to Israel, which Nevada's senators rejected. 

Addressing the "antiestablishment" banner some candidates have run under, she joked, "I'm going to start off with a Taylor Swift quote: 'Hi, I'm the problem, it's me,'" before adding, "I've been around for a moment and people want to say that I'm the establishment. If you think that Latina social workers are the problem in this world, you know, I can't help you."

KUNR: Meet Teresa Benitez-Thompson: Democratic candidate for Nevada's CD2

KRNV: Meet Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Democrat running for Nevada's CD2

KTVN: Teresa Benitez-Thompson on running for Nevada CD2 seat

This Is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Teresa Benitez-Thompson

Kathy Durham

Durham, a union representative and high school civics teacher, told KRNV that the "the dark chapters that I teach in my history class are playing out through this country." She is running on support for Medicare for All, tax credits for regular people and fighting corporate consolidation. She has said Nevada's representatives "have been complicit, because they take money from the very people who are funding" Israel. 

She comes from a long line of military veterans. While most of her competitors are based near Reno, she is from rural Nevada, which sources who spoke the The Indy expect will help her earn votes there. She has been traversing the state since last summer. 

KUNR: Meet Kathy Durham: Democratic candidate for Nevada's CD2

KRNV: Meet Kathy Durham, Democrat running for Nevada's Congressional District 2

This is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Kathy Durham

Matthew Fonken

Longtime Northern Nevada organizer and former Nevada Democratic Party executive director Matthew Fonken (D) is running as a "balance and accountability" candidate, a platform that includes supporting term limits, a five-year moratorium on lobbying for lawmakers, and no stock trading for members of Congress and their spouses. 

He also supports Medicare for All, giving federal land back to tribal nations, and impeaching, convicting, and removing members of the Trump administration. He has endorsements from Indivisible Northern Nevada, state Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) and Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom (D). 

He describes himself as working class and has worked in hospitality and as an attaché in the state Assembly for former Assm. Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (D-Las Vegas). He rose into party leadership when progressives wrested control from Reid Machine operatives in 2021. He remains willing to criticize Democrats. This year, he has talked about being "sidelined and blacklisted" for speaking up about the delegation's votes for the Laken Riley Act and specifically called out Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

KUNR: Meet Matthew Fonken: Democratic candidate for Nevada's CD2

KRNV: Meet Matthew Fonken, Democrat running for Nevada's CD2

This is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Matthew Fonken

Morgan Wadsworth

Wadsworth is a sixth-generation Nevadan who was raised by a "conservative ranching family." Her grandfather was shot in the head at 15 with a BB gun and had to go to California for medical care throughout his life, driving her ambition to be a doctor. But when she worked in Nevada's hospitals, she saw what she describes as a systemic problem.

She is running on Medicare for All, raising the federal minimum wage, rezoning vacant lots to make housing more affordable, ending funding to Israel, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She opposes building data centers in Nevada because of the risk of water pollution in exchange for few new jobs. 

She has suggested Nevada Democrats are "Republican-Lite." As the only Gen Z candidate in the race, Wadsworth has built a social media following of several thousand across platforms and is endorsed by TrackAIPAC, which itself has nearly half a million followers on X. 

KUNR: Meet Morgan Wadsworth: Democratic candidate for Nevada's CD2

KRNV: Meet Morgan Wadsworth, Democrat running for Nevada's Congressional District 2

This Is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Morgan Leigh Wadsworth

Carson Now: Morgan Wadsworth: The Gen-Z student and former casino-worker vying for Amodei's job

Reddit AMA — I'm Morgan Wadsworth and I'm running for CD-2

Gamaliel "Gamy" Zavala Enriquez

DoorDasher and small business-owner Gamaliel "Gamy" Zavala Enriquez (D) is the only other member of the "antiestablishment" pact still running. He said the candidates had reached an initial understanding that they would debate each other in late May and look to an independent metric, like a poll, to determine the leading candidate, but that this never happened. "Given the strong support I have received from members of the community, I am committed to seeing my campaign through to the end," he wrote in an email to The Nevada Independent.

He cites his lived experience as the grandson of a bracero, a laborer who was part of the program that brought Mexican workers to America, and the first in his family to attend college "back when social mobility was a thing." He wanted to become a diplomat, but experienced homelessness and incarceration. Eventually, he got a master's degree in public administration and policy from UNR. 

Now, he's advocating for universal economic policies covering child care, parental leave and many other issues. Enriquez is advocating for ambitious proposals such as establishing a $1,300 monthly universal basic income funded by Nevada's mineral resources, a "Green Marshall Plan" and abolishing ICE. 

KUNR: Meet Gamaliel Zavala Enriquez: Democratic candidate for Nevada's CD2

KRNV: Meet Gamy Enriquez, Democratic candidate for Nevada's Congressional District 2

This is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Gamaliel "Gamy" Zavala Enriquez

Johnny Kerns

Retired homicide investigator Johnny Kerns (D) is a true crime author who got just more than 2 percent of the vote in the 2024 Democratic primary for state Senate District 15, held by state Sen. Angie Taylor (D-Reno). He is running on stabilizing the economy, addressing the $39 trillion national debt, and reinvigorating congressional oversight. He has also raised concerns about how artificial intelligence could threaten national security, though he has said "society will adapt" to its effects on the workplace.

KRNV: Meet Johnny Kerns, Democrat running for Nevada's Congressional District 2

This is Reno: Congressional District 2 candidates: Johnny Kerns

KOLO: Johnny Kerns, ex-homicide investigator and author, running for Amodei's Congressional seat

Gerold Lee Gorman

2022 2nd Congressional District candidate Gerold Lee Gorman's (D) website still includes information from his last bid. He did not participate in the rural road tour, give interviews to other Nevada outlets, or file reports with the Federal Election Commission.