Ryan Bundy: From battle with feds to ballot box in November

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Let Ryan Bundy give you his take on his run for Governor.

“It's going good. I've got lots of support and I see more coming every day,” Bundy said recently.

Some of that support came on August 27, when he received the nod from a Libertarian and former candidate for president, Ron Paul.

Still, Bundy has to be considered the longest of long shots: The last poll, done by the Reno Gazette-Journal at the end of July, has Bundy trailing the two main candidates – Democrat Steve Sisolak and Republican Adam Laxalt, by almost 40 points each.

Bundy is running as a non-partisan, not affiliated with any political party.

Depending on your point of view, Bundy has a last name that is either famous or infamous. His family is the face of the right's battle with the federal government over control of federal land: First came the standoff in Bunkerville in 2014, followed by another standoff in Oregon in 2016.

The federal cases against the Bundys collapsed, and now they're free.

To some, they're lawbreakers. To others, they're heroes. Now, Ryan is a candidate.

“I hope to gain a lot of support from not just the rurals but also the city. And not just from Adam Laxalt,” Bundy said.

The conventional wisdom would be Laxalt, a Republican and fellow conservative, would be more vulnerable to a Bundy run, especially in a rural Nevada skeptical of government control.

So News 3 asked Bundy what he thought about the prospect that he could be a spoiler, taking away just enough support from Laxalt in a close race that Sisolak wins.

“Well you know, there's always that sentiment but that's not my problem. That's not my fault,” Bundy says. “It’ll be the fault of the voters if such things take place. I’m asking for support. I’m asking for people to support the best candidate who will protect their rights, and I don’t believe Adam Laxalt is that, and I don’t believe Steve Sisolak is that.”

“If Bundy runs his campaign the right way and Laxalt doesn't, then he has a chance in the rurals to drain off support,” says UNLV associate professor of history Michael Green.

Bundy has a beef with both candidates.

Referring to Sisolak, “he’s allowed several, or large land transactions where he has collaborated with the federal government to allow these transactions to take place. Well, these land transactions are unconstitutional,” claims Bundy, referring to the creation of the Gold Butte National Monument in Clark County. He also thinks Sisolak would be too tough on guns.

As for Laxalt, he thinks the Republican, in his view, should have stood up to the feds.

“Adam has been in a position as Attorney General to check the federal government when they encroached upon Nevadans, particularly our family, and he stood by and did nothing,” claims Bundy.

Not according to Team Laxalt.

"No other candidate for governor has fought harder to protect the individual liberties, freedoms and constitutional rights of Nevadans than Adam Laxalt," the campaign said in a statement to News 3.

Which gets to what Bundy calls his main issue: judicial reform, propelled by the experience his family has had with the federal government.

Just one issue in the mix, in a race that could be a photo finish, with a Bundy in the middle.