Nevada GOP nominee Carrie Buck says she’s ‘coming to retire Dina Titus’

After flipping a Democrat-leaning state senate district in 2020, Carrie Buck is setting her sights on a bigger target this election cycle: Nevada's first congressional district, an urban Las-Vegas-based district stretching east to the Arizona border.

But it will not be easy to oust Congresswoman Dina Titus, an 8-term veteran with strong ties to organized labor, the tourism industry and the business community.

Recently, Buck sat down with Fox News Digital at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas to discuss her swing district appeal, her background as a teacher and principal and why she believes her take on kitchen table economics will enable her to pull off an upset come election day.

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First and foremost, Buck is no stranger to challenging Democrats on their own turf.

"Well, in 2020, I flipped a blue district to Republican, and it represents 20% of this [NV-1] district. So, I know I can flip the entire district. People are just tired of my Democrat opponent, and they're ready for change."

Buck cites her three decades of experience in the Nevada education system as critical to understanding the electorate.

"Well, the past 30 years, I've served in the school system here in Nevada. I was a teacher. … I taught adult ESL, I taught children for years. Then I became a principal of one of the lowest performing schools in the state and moved it to a national Title I school. I won the Milken Award in that time. 

"And, so, I've been breathing life into children and families for years. When I knock on doors, when I'm out in the community, people are like, ‘Dr. Buck, you were my principal.’ And, so, I think a lot of people know that I'm going to really deliver for Nevadans in D.C."

Housing affordability is a signature issue for Buck.

She pledges to "ensure that Nevadans have access to lower-cost housing" while also "driving down interest rates so that people can buy whatever house that they want to."

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Buck also argues that the immigration crisis during the Biden administration was a key driver on the housing affordability issue.

"I think also what impacted housing is the immigration policies of the Biden years, where they allowed all these people into our country and that drove up [the cost of] all of our low-income housing. 

"It depleted it. And, so, now that we're seeing people end up getting deported and going back to their original country, I know that it's definitely driving down prices here."

Buck promises that taking a hard line on the national debt will be a top priority.

"Spending is definitely out of control when we look at the waste of taxpayer dollars, waste, fraud and abuse. When we've seen some of these cases from across the nation, it really is a red alert. We need to make sure that we root that out. 

"I just actually saw the vice president is heading up this task force, and they're finding lots of fraud. … We can't just release taxpayer dollars. So, reining in the waste, fraud and abuse and making sure that [government spending] goes to the seniors and the children and the veterans who need it."

Buck is a strong supporter of pathways to citizenship for immigrants, but also maintains a hard line on issues of border security and illegal immigration.

"There is a pathway to citizenship, and I think we need to get people signed up. I've been part of a movement to ensure that people have access to get citizenship. And that's the way, the legal way.

"But coming here illegally, you are breaking laws. Those people need to be deported. We've seen so many victims of crimes by illegal immigrants, and that has to stop. We need to make sure that we have safe communities. I'm a wife of a law enforcement officer and know how important our safe communities and our men and women are working out there in law enforcement."

Water issues remain an enormous concern west of the Mississippi, particularly in Nevada. Buck argues that California could and should play a large role in ensuring Nevadans access to water.

"For too long, Nevada has been the conservationist. … Our citizens conserve so much water. … All it would take is California to build a basin and hold their rainwater and not release it into the Pacific. 

"But they're very selfish neighbors. … We need to make sure that our federal government can maybe step in and build these reservoirs to hold water."