Republican Nye County Commissioner Leo Blundo on Wednesday announced his candidacy for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District currently held by Democratic Congressman Steven Horsford. 

Blundo was elected to the commission in 2018, and he now chairs the Board of Highway Commissioners and the Regional Transportation Commission. He has also been a vocal proponent for a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain — which lies in Nye County — going so far as to submit a letter defending the project to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

As a then-candidate, Blundo made headlines after he was charged with a misdemeanor following an incident where he allegedly hit a scooter with an SUV and then failed to leave contact information. 

He joins a growing field of Republican hopefuls looking to flip the seat, including former Assemblyman Jim Marchant, former congressional staffer Charles Navarro, former Miss Nevada Lisa Song Sutton and small business owner Rebecca Wood. 

District 4 has flipped back and forth between Democrats and Republicans since 2012, when it was originally won by Horsford after it was formed by the Legislature in 2011. Then-Assemblyman Cresent Hardy upset Horsford in 2014 before losing the seat one cycle later, this time to Democrat Ruben Kihuen. 

Kihuen would eventually decline to run for re-election in 2018 following allegations of sexual harassment, at which point Horsford re-won the seat.

Update, 7:00 p.m. - updated to include additional Republican candidates for District 4