Joseph P. Silvestri
Republican | Nevada
Candidate Profile
Conservative
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
State University of New York at Stonybrook, Stonybrook, NY, Master of Arts and Liberal Sciences, -1993
State University of New York College at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, BA, -1989
WORK & MILITARY
Clark County School District, educator, 1997-2026
AFFILIATIONS
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
NV Assembly District 3, 2026-
ENDORSEMENTS
CONSERVATIVE (2)
Nevada Young Republicans
Las Vegas Young Republican Club
OTHER (1)
Save Nevada
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (2)
Joseph Silvestri (2026)
Freedom for All Americans (2016)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (1)
Joseph Silvestri (2026)
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Strongly Agree
Abortion takes an innocent human life. Taxpayers should not be forced to fund it or the organizations that perform it.
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
None. I believe abortion ends a human life and is morally wrong. Nevada voters have already set a state constitutional baseline I cannot repeal by myself. I will refuse taxpayer funding, support parental rights, and oppose any further expansion. The only circumstance I treat as distinct from elective abortion is a genuine threat to the life of the mother.
Human life deserves legal protection from conception until natural death.
Agree
A unique human life begins at conception. In Nevada I will work within existing constitutional limits, block public funding, and oppose policies that treat unborn children as disposable.
The lives of human embryos created through artificial methods ought to be protected from purposeful destruction.
Agree
Human life at conception does not lose that status because the embryo was created in a lab. I oppose treating human embryos as material for destruction.
The Comstock Act, which bans interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs, should be enforced.
Agree
Agree that existing federal law should not be ignored. As a state legislator, my job is Nevada law, funding, and parental protection.
ECONOMY
What is your position on the minimum wage?
Oppose government wage-setting. Wages and benefits should be decided by employers and employees, not politicians.
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.
Audit state agencies and cut redundant programs; return savings to taxpayers. Block every new sales, property, or income tax. Dismantle the Clark County School District bureaucracy; prioritize parent-directed funding through ESAs rather than a government monopoly. I champion charter schools and universal school choice. End green-energy mandates that raise utility bills. Stop taxpayer money for ideological programs, including gender medicalization of minors/subsidies for abortion providers.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
The First Amendment forbids a national church and protects free exercise. It does not require government hostility to Christianity or public expressions of faith. Peaceful people should be free to believe and worship. Government should not compel speech or punish conscience.
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Strongly Disagree
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. Healthcare is not a right to force a doctor or taxpayer to provide a service. I will not expand government medicine. I support fewer mandates, cross-state insurance, HSAs, and competition to lower costs.
The government should keep a database of people with various ongoing medical illnesses to assess the economic burden of treatment.
Disagree
That is compelled speech and compelled association. Peaceful people may live by their faith.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Strongly Agree
The CCP is a long-term threat to American security and living standards. I am America First. I oppose globalist arrangements that weaken the United States.
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
Yes. Israel is a U.S. ally with a right to exist and defend itself. I support Israel against Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime that backs them.
IMMIGRATION
I support the existence of sanctuary cities to protect undocumented persons.
Strongly Disagree
Legal immigration, yes. Sanctuary policies, no. Mass illegal immigration has driven welfare costs, housing pressure, fentanyl, gangs, trafficking, and fraud. Enforce the law, end incentives for illegal entry, and require assimilation: English, work, and respect for the Constitution.
EDUCATION
I support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and giving control back to states and communities.
Strongly Agree
Education belongs with states, communities, and parents. In Nevada that means ESAs, smaller districts, charters, and an end to Critical Race Theory and gender ideology in schools.
Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education.
Strongly Agree
VALUES
Government should recognize and support the fundamental right and essential duty of parents to direct their child's health and educational well-being.
Strongly Agree
Parents raise children. The state does not.
Attempts to physically or socially transition a child to the opposite sex constitute child abuse.
Strongly Agree
Sex is biological. No school secrecy from parents. No taxpayer-funded transitions for minors.
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Strongly Agree
Government should not redesign marriage. Where law recognizes marriage, it should mean a lifelong union of one man and one woman—the arrangement that gives a child a mother and a father.
I support the expansion of gambling in my state.
Neutral
Nevada already has legal gambling. Adults may take peaceful risks and live with the consequences. I will not crusade to expand it, and I will not pretend vice is harmless.
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am a Cultural Christian. I live by the moral inheritance of the Christian West—honesty, family, work, self-control, and the dignity of the person. The government should protect life, liberty, and not interfere with peaceful religious practice.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
Only citizens should vote, and they should prove they are eligible.
EQUALITY
Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.
Strongly Disagree
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Strongly Agree
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Man-made climate change is a global threat and requires urgent political action.
Strongly Disagree
I will not vote for mandates that raise Nevada families’ bills. Stewardship means reliable power and practical technology, not panic.
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
Nuclear power, including next-generation reactors, along with other dispatchable sources such as natural gas.
ABOUT YOU
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Conservative
Conservative / America First, with a classical-liberal emphasis on limited government and free enterprise.
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
No.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
No.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
What should be the goal of the criminal justice system?
A peaceful society: protect the innocent and remove violent offenders. I support longer sentences for high-rate violent criminals and capital punishment for the worst murderers. Fund police. Reject defund and catch-and-release.
Government has a responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation during online activities.
Agree
Sharia law should not be accepted or incorporated in any form within the legal framework of the United States.
Strongly Agree
American law is the Constitution. No parallel legal system.
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
I support constitutional carry. Public safety comes from prosecuting violent criminals and securing the border, and not from disarming law-abiding citizens.
