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, ex-congressional staffer and Republican candidate for Congressional District 4 Charles Navarro. 

A former re-entry manager with the faith-based Hope for Prisoners organization, Navarro spent several years in Washington, D.C. working for former Rep. Buck McKeon of California and later Rep. Cresent Hardy.

Now running in the eight-way Republican race for District 4, Navarro has lagged behind the top fundraisers in the race. Spending more than he raised in the first quarter, he entered the final weeks of the race with roughly $24,500 in cash on hand, good for the fifth-largest campaign war chest in the field. 

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WHY RUN FOR CONGRESS?

“I believe that I have the will and desire strong enough to get back there in Congress and to fight through the bureaucracy that lies ahead and DC to adequately be an advocate for the issues and and all these matters that, as I said, we're not being addressed appropriately

CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE AND RECOVERY

Navarro said the federal government made an early misstep in failing to secure adequate personal protective equipment during the first few weeks of the pandemic. 

But he also applauded more recent efforts by the federal government to mass produce coronavirus medicine or vaccines in the U.S., and he praised the decision to lower barriers for access for food insecurity programs such as SNAP and TANF, and the creation of the paycheck protection program. 

Navarro said that he would like to see more accountability for the money that has already been allocated, and he criticized a new relief bill proposed by Democrats because “there’s still so much money that’s out there that hasn’t quite moved its way to the local communities.”

“I don't want there to be another spending spree without us fully being accountable to the amount of money that's already been freed up that just hasn't made its way through yet,” Navarro said. 

Navarro also criticized the ongoing federal expansion of unemployment benefits, saying that the extra money does little to alleviate drops in consumer demand and has disincentivized workers to go back to work.

“I believe on the local levels, the quicker we can get — safely —  we can get people back out there into somewhat of a societal norm than it was before, I think the better off that we're going to be,” he said. 

Navarro added that he believes the long term effects of the virus will likely stretch into the next year, especially as more small businesses shutter following weeks or months of lost revenue.  

“A lot of these small business owners, they spent their whole entire lives earnings and work and blood and sweat into putting this business together,” Navarro said. “And it's unfortunate whenever I read stories of these businesses, [they] are not going to be opening back up after the state starts opening up just because it's been too much of a financial burden on them to even try and to continue it.”

HEALTH CARE

Navarro said the national discourse around health care should be focused on “ensuring access for all, first and foremost,” instead of the long-running debate over the Medicare-for-All-type proposals often supported by Democrats. 

Saying that such a plan would not address the needs of rural Nevada, he said that low government reimbursement rates would run providers out of business and fail to address a widespread access problem across the state. 

“Even out here in Las Vegas, we're 20 years behind in regard to the level and type of care that we can provide to the people,” Navarro said. “It was just a few years ago, where they finally got their first Children's Cancer Center. For a populous city like this, for a growing city as we are in, a big metropolitan city, it's baffling why no one has been fighting for it.”

Navarro said that he believes individual states should have increased control of their own health care systems, but also that certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act — the Obama-era health law that has long been the subject of repeal attempts by Republicans — still hold some merit. 

Navarro specifically called out Section 1332, a provision of the ACA that allows states to apply for “state innovation waivers” that exempt states from certain ACA requirements, so long as new health care solutions sought by those states abide by certain federal rules. 

“What it has done in the trial states is that it's created more of a competition amongst the providers, but it's also caused them for people's premiums to lower as well,” Navarro said. 

IMMIGRATION

Navarro said that it would be unfair and inappropriate of the federal government to “force out” the undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, asking in part “why is it that they should be punished for something completely out of their control?”

“It would be unfair to force them out, away from a country that they have known and called home their whole entire life, and then have to get reassimilated to a country that is completely foreign to them,” Navarro said. 

Navarro said he agrees with the Trump Administration on some immigration issues, including the deportation of violent criminals, increased scrutiny of asylum claims and new restrictions on family migration, sometimes referred to as “chain migration.” 

But he added that the immigration system should ultimately be streamlined such that a process can exist for undocumented immigrants to enter the citizenship process without disrupting those who have already begun working through the legal immigration system. 

“The good that's going to come out of it is if you can start getting them either on a work visa or citizenship, you're going to get more people being able to file taxes every single year instead of getting paid on the under the table,” Navarro said. “And so if we have more individuals paying taxes, we're going to have more revenue coming in, which is going to help funnel more money to pay for all these government programs that people are wanting to create these days.”

BIPARTISAN COMPROMISE

Citing health care, immigration and education as issues he’d like to see bipartisan compromise on, Navarro said that he believed the key to ultimately addressing such issues was to “systematically approach it in smaller bites,” passing smaller legislation until an end goal is reached. 

“Instead of the tax reform that was done, instead of that bill being so huge, taking smaller steps so we can make sure we get it right the first time, instead of always having to then to go back and fix it because it didn't work out as planned,” he said.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Navarro, like the other Republicans in the race for District 4, said he frequently agreed with the policies of the Trump Administration. But on the issue of ongoing negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Navarro said the administration’s efforts have been “baffling.”

“Knowing, over the years, of how many different types of government organizations and entities tried to negotiate with them and have failed, and how much they have reneged on their promises to upholding whatever standard is that they were supposed to uphold to, it is baffling why we are trying to push ahead and forcing this negotiation forward when they have already clearly put out and have shown the whole entire world that they are not entities to be negotiated with,” Navarro said. 

On the issue of the president’s tax returns — a friction-point between the president and congressional Democrats after frequent attempts by the latter to compel their release through oversight channels — Navarro said the onus on discovering any financial misgivings should fall to journalists, not to Congress. 

“Unless it's firmly stated in law, then let the requirements be the requirements that they are,” he said. 

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