Storey County School Board member Cathylee James has announced plans to run for the Assembly District 38 seat now held by Tom Grady.
Grady, a Yerington Republican, is completing his first term in the post which he won after Joe Dini retired.
James, a Democrat, said more must be done to improve Nevada schools and provide quality health care to working families and senior citizens.
"It's easy to say you are pro-education or you are concerned about our senior citizens," she said.
"I don't believe in making excuses for why things are the way they are," she said. "I believe our elected officials have a responsibility to aggressively pursue solutions to our problems."
She said Nevada consistently ranks near the bottom in education funding and has overcrowded classrooms, shortages of texts, difficulty recruiting the highest quality teachers and a high dropout rate.
"We can do better; we must do better," she said.
James said she also believes more must be done to help all Nevadans get affordable health care.
"We must find ways to help small businesses provide health care to their employees and to help our seniors and all Nevadans with the skyrocketing costs of health insurance premiums and medicines," she said.
James attended Incline High School and served as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Air Force, a librarian and as a substitute teacher as well as a writer.
Her father is Ron James, state climatologist for the past 23 years, and her brother Mark is a former state senator and current member of the Clark County Commission.
She said she isn't worried about the Republican voter registration advantage in District 38 because she believes the area has a long tradition of "voting for the best person, no matter what his or her party affiliation."
"I passionately believe our children, our families, our senior citizens deserve better than they are getting now," she said.
Contact Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or 687-8750.
