(Don Dike-Anukam | Fallon Post) – Incoming Nevada State Assemblywoman, Annie Black (R-Mesquite), is a very active political figure in Southern Nevada, who served on the Mesquite City Council for two years, running unsuccessfully in 2019 for the Chairmanship of the Nevada Republican Party.
In June 2020, she kicked off her candidacy for Nevada State Assembly District 19 and defeated three-term incumbent Chris Edwards (R). After winning that seat in November, Black announced that she would not join the Republican Assembly caucus led by Assemblywoman Dr. Robin Titus (R-Lyon/Churchill CO./Wellington/Smith Valley).
Black is a native Nevadan, born and raised in Las Vegas who is the mother of two boys, 16 and 18 years old. She is also a realtor, who moved to Mesquite six years ago.
As a sitting Assemblywoman, Black says, “My plans are to be a fiscal conservative, to work to help pass legislation that supports our businesses, and to raise no new taxes.” She says that she has already come out with BDRs (Bill Draft Requests). “I’ve announced them. And they’re all along the conservative lines. So, we’re doing Spending Restraint Act. I want to make sure that we don’t blow the budget out, like we have the last three sessions.”
She is still disappointed in how the 2020 election was handled, saying, “I’m disappointed in our elections in Nevada. I was not in favor of the primary being all done by mail-in ballot; I thought that was a big mistake, which opened the door for what happened in the general.” Black went on to explain that this led to same day voter registration, ballot harvesting, and ballots being sent to people who did not request an absentee ballot. She believes that her sentiments are shared by a lot of people.
Black was in Washington D.C. on Jan 6th when the U.S. Capitol building was attacked and saw first-hand much of what happened. Since returning to Nevada, she has experienced some backlash from critics stemming from that event.
She was at the Ellipse, an area located south of the White House and north of the National Mall, when President Trump spoke to supporters. “It definitely did not go the way that I anticipated, I can tell you that much.”
She explained that she made a last-minute decision to go and flew to Washington DC on Tuesday. She arrived at the Ellipse at around 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, where she knew there would be a rally, and was there until about 11:00 a.m. “It was a typical Trump rally atmosphere, but we were pretty far from the stage and the feedback on the sound system was bad, so, we decided to go back, to go to the Capitol, because we thought we had heard the President was going to speak there at the end of the march.”
According to Black, when she arrived at the Capitol around 11:30 a.m., there was only one family there with teenage children. She did not notice any children there. She listened to the President’s speech on her phone and stayed in the crowd until two o’clock when the situation quickly began to change.
Black said at that time more people started to fill the area and, “there were definitely some different characters; there are people in gas masks and helmets and wearing all black and it just didn’t seem like the same group that was over at the Ellipse. So, it was a little strange; you know, you’re on edge, because already, you go into that situation, hoping that there’s no sort of terrorist attack or whatever. I mean, you just kind of want to be safe, and so, you’re already kind of on edge.” At this point, the situation began to escalate from what she could see where she was standing between the Capitol and the Supreme Court building.
Assemblywoman Black will begin her first day in the legislature on Feb 1st. She will serve on three committees: Government Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Natural Resources.
The Interview in Full…
