Elect Erich Obermayr

Campaign 2026

Rather send a check?

SEND TO:
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—>

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 —>

THE NON-PARTISAN VOTE

Non-partisan voters are not allowed to fully participate in Nevada’s primary elections because they do not belong to a political party. They can pick and choose in the general election from a list of candidates pre-selected by their fellow citizens who do belong to a party. But they have no part in determining who is on the list in the first place. This needs to change, both as a matter of fairness and because Non-partisans are thoughtful, open-minded voters whose support candidates should be required to earn.

Non-partisan voters comprise 37% of Nevada active voters as of January, 2026, and they are the fastest-growing voter bloc in the state.
In District 39, Non-partisans comprise 28% of the electorate.
I have a simple proposal to address the disenfranchising of more than one-third of Nevada voters. Come primary election time, Non-partisans will be offered a choice of party ballots which they complete and submit on the spot if voting in person, or send in if voting by mail.
Republicans argue that primaries are a private activity, carried on by a private organization, and they are well within their rights to limit participation to members of their private group. That’s well and good, but then how about this private group pay for this private event—the primary election—with their own private money?

People are dissatisfied with the political parties, or don’t see party membership as the only path toward political participation and influence, or they just aren’t joiners. Whatever the case, 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 of voters.

READ MORE ABOUT THE NON-PARTISAN VOTE —>