Jessica Hill at The Las Vegas Sun:
Pahrump resident Bill Hockstedler, a veteran who works as the vice president of strategic development for Mayo Clinic, refers to himself as a “straight shooter” and a moderate Republican who wants to see a level of civility and decorum return to politics. He’s running for U.S. Senate in Nevada, and isn’t toeing the GOP party line when it comes to the 2020 presidential election. Hockstedler says President Joe Biden is the duly elected president, while one of his primary opponents — former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt — touts claims that the election was stolen and that mail-in ballots were submitted fraudulently. Those claims have been proven false in court challenges, and Nevada’s Republican secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske, has assured the public that the election was free and fair, untainted by meaningful fraud. “We need honesty, we need people who don’t make up things for extremism, to get media attention, to distract from what the real problems of this country are,” Hockstedler said. Hockstedler, 59, echoed the beliefs of those who call themselves “principled conservatives,” who want to see people follow rules and laws and want to concentrate on the Republican Party’s founding principles of limited government, free market and free people. With only a couple of months to go until the primary, Hockstedler is getting more active in his campaigning, attending events and trying to build up a following, but he hasn’t raised nearly as much money as his opponents and is having trouble getting invited to the debate stage, he said.