Elect Erich Obermayr

Campaign 2026

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The Committee to Elect Erich Obermayr
P.O. Box 249
Silver City, NV 89428

MY WELL WENT DRY!

Governor Lombardo recently fired the State Engineer, an under the radar move which potentially marks a dangerous step away from water rights adjudication based on science, the law, and the public interest and a step toward making it a political exercise directed by well-connected special interest groups.

The State Engineer administers the Division of Water Resources and is responsible for the management of the state’s water resources, including issuing new water rights, approving changes in water use, enforcing water law, and resolving conflicts between users.
The State Engineer Governor Lombardo fired in December, 2025, was an experienced, highly regarded administrator whose guiding principle was the science-based balance of public interest, smart growth, and beneficial use of water resources in a way that protects both the resource and existing water rights.
He clearly ran afoul of obviously powerful and, with respect to the Lombardo administration, influential special interests seeking permits for water regardless of the impacts on other water right holders.
The question is, will the new State Engineer, appointed to appease powerful political interests, base his or her decisions on the public good or the desires of those special interests?
What will happen, for example, when a new data center begins pumping its full allotment of water even though—since allotments exceed the actual groundwater available—that means less water for surrounding residents, farmers, and municipalities?

The State Legislature has oversight of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and within it the Division of Water Resources. As a legislator, I will join with my colleagues to make sure the State Engineer makes good decisions based on science, the law, and the public interest, not politics. It will also be important to properly fund this long-neglected agency and give it the twenty-first century tools necessary to manage Nevada’s single most important resource.

READ MORE ABOUT WATER—>

THE DATA CENTERS ARE COMING

Northern Nevada is home to a number of data centers, and more are planned or under construction. They are unique in their astonishing appetites for water, electricity, and land, along with their potential environmental damage. But they also offer jobs and significant local and state tax revenue. It is up to local officials—county commissioners, city councils and supervisors—to weigh the costs and benefits and permit, or not, data centers in their communities. This is and should always be a local decision, but because data centers can have a wide-ranging impact on the lives of all Nevadans there is also a role for the State Government:

No tax abatements for data centers.
The Legislature must establish baseline requirements and a permitting process that apply state-wide and protect against the worst excesses of data centers. No project will be approved unless and until it meets certain requirements, including:
- Water
- Electricity
- Environment

Data centers’ excessive appetites for resources puts the burden on them to prove they will not put Nevadans’ water, property, environment, or utility costs at risk. State Government is obligated to make sure they meet this burden, and as your Assemblyman I will work to make certain the Legislature does just that.

READ MORE ABOUT DATA CENTERS—>

HOUSING

Paying for a place to live is eating up household budgets in District 39 and throughout the state. Housing costs are all about supply and demand, and Legislators have a key role in bringing the currently out of whack relationship back into balance.
If I’m elected to represent Assembly District 39, I will:

Fight to stop private equity funds from manipulating supply and shutting ordinary Nevadans out of the housing market.
Monitor implementation of the Nevada Housing Access and Attainability Act to make sure it achieves its promised goals, particularly the increased construction of attainable housing.
Support incentives to counties and cities to change planning and zoning that places undue restrictions on developing multi-family housing.

And I won’t hesitate to insure proper funding for programs that help families in need, seniors and others on fixed incomes, and those experiencing homelessness to find and keep decent, affordable housing.

READ MORE ABOUT HOUSING —>

HEY NONPARTISANS, FEELING LEFT OUT?

I have a simple proposal to allow nonpartisan voters to participate in our party primaries. Nonpartisans can only vote in Nevada’s closed primaries if they change their registration and join a political party, if only temporarily. In other words, if they stop being nonpartisan. No one else is required to take this extra step to exercise their right to vote.
Under my proposal:

Registered nonpartisan voters would receive a primary ballot which includes separate slates of Republican and Democratic candidates. Nonpartisans voting in person would be given a similar ballot at their polling place.
They would pick which slate to fill in, in addition to voting for nonpartisan issues and offices.
They would then submit their ballot as usual, either by mail or in person.

Why this is a good idea:

Nonpartisans are, in my experience, a thoughtful and well-informed group of voters. They are also dissatisfied with the political parties. They should not be forced to jump through hoops to participate in the fundamental process of picking candidates just because they choose not to belong to a party.
Adding nonpartisans to the party primaries would improve the political debate by encouraging candidates to expand their appeal beyond party dogma. Closed primaries reward extremist positions and rhetoric, as candidates focus on the hard core party members who currently dominate the primaries.

Nonpartisans comprise 37% of active voters in Nevada, and 28 % of voters in Assembly District 39. They are a significant portion of the electorate, and their participation should be simple and easy, not complicated.
I AM NOT PROPOSING AN OPEN PRIMARY, in which Republicans vote in the Democratic primary, and vice versa. I am, in fact, opposed to open primaries. My proposal applies only to nonpartisan voters who wish to vote in a party primary.

As a candidate, I regard nonpartisans as open-minded voters whose support I would be happy to earn. I look forward to a change in the law which calls for candidates to present themselves and their ideas to this important and growing group.

READ MORE ABOUT THE NON-PARTISAN VOTE —>