cresent-hardy-portrt-239x300Cresent Hardy emerged victorious in a spirited Republican primary for the Congressional District Four seat and he doesn’t expect the challenge to be any easier against incumbent Steven Horsford in the general election.

But that doesn’t mean he considers himself the underdog.

“There are definite differences between Mr. Horsford and myself,” said Hardy, a native of Mesquite. “But it comes down to if people are happy with the way Congress is going. I believe I can give them a different choice.”

Hardy won the primary with 42.6 percent of the vote, compared to Niger Innis’ 33.1 percent and Mike Monroe’s surprising 22.1 percent. A fourth candidate, Carlo Poliak garnered 2.1 percent. Horsford easily won the Democratic primary with  84.3 percent of the vote.

“We’re working on a game plan for the general election,” Hardy said. “The most important factors are jobs and the economy. Business people aren’t going to expand as long as there in instability in the government.”

District Four, in its current boundaries that were redrawn only two years ago, features a vast area that includes the urban area of North Las Vegas along with six rural counties. Although the rural areas often have different issues they face than the urban areas, at the end of the day there are similarities as well.

“Everybody wants a good quality of life and better paying jobs,” Hardy said. “They’re still hard-working people who pay taxes and we want to help them.”

One of the first things Hardy would do if elected is to develop a strong community outreach in all the counties served.

“The rural areas are all different,” Hardy said. “Pahrump’s challenges are different than Mesquites and Mesquites are different than White Pine County’s. But we have to have people to address them. It’s easy for me to travel in the rural areas. I love it. I enjoy driving the state.”

Although Hardy has moved to the general election, there is still a matter of Innis’ call for an investigation into the surprising results tallied by Mike Monroe. Monroe did no campaigning at all and still tallied 22 percent of the vote. He was the top vote-getter in both White Pine and Esmeralda counties.

“I’m not worried about that,” Hardy said. “Life moves on.”

The general election will take place on Nov. 4.