Assemblyman Greg Koenig (R-38) has announced that he will run for re-election after serving a successful freshman session as a member of the super minority during the 2023 Legislative session.
While he enjoyed building relationships across the aisle, his only way to get things done as one of the 14 Republican Assembly members working with their 28 Democrat colleagues, Koenig said he doesn’t like being in the super minority. “They control everything from where your office is to where you can park to where you sit on the floor to what committees you’re on,” he said. “It’s just so important that we stay out of the super minority on both sides; the only thing that saves us is the threat of the governor’s veto.”
He said there are four races that may be vulnerable for Democrats, and flipping one of those would give the Republicans some relief from the veto-proof minority they are in now.
Koenig has earned a reputation with his relationship building, as a legislator who is reasonable and easy to work with. As one of the two Assemblymen who represent the most rural parts of the state, Bert Gurr (R-33) is from Elko and represents the bulk of the north and east; Koenig says this has paid off immensely.
“I have that reputation, so people reach out to me,” he said. “They will come to me about a certain bill and ask about it, ‘If you’re a yes, then I’m a yes,’ they will say, it’s how things work when there is trust.”
Koenig was able to parlay that trust and his relationships as a freshman legislator in the super minority into being the Republican with the highest percentage of bills passed during the legislative session. He was able to get the Rural Emergency Hospital bill passed, legislation that strengthens rural access to medical care, along with a telemedicine bill, establishing rural health districts with Senator Robin Titus (R-17), and during the controversial siren bill, was able to work with the local community to save the Fallon noon whistle.
“You have to change your way of thinking. Ideally, you want to go in there and protect gun rights and strengthen right to life and election integrity, all those things that are your core beliefs, but if you’re in the super minority, none of those will ever get a hearing. There are a handful of Republicans who didn’t pass a single bill. Instead of doing that, I didn’t want to spend my time and come out of there not accomplishing anything,” said Koenig. “If you pound your desk the whole session, at the end, you have sore fists and no bills.”
Koenig said he would go into this next session, if he wins the election, so much more prepared and able to be so much more productive. “It’s tough to have to run every two years,” he said, “it really takes you two years to learn what you need to know.”
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