RENO, Nev. — The race for Nevada's 2nd Congressional District shouldn't be competitive, just based on history and math. But the Republican Party's nominee, David Flippo, is facing an unusually tough race despite having President Trump's endorsement, bogged down by allegations that he exaggerated his military service and lacks real ties to the district.
"This seat is some kind of competitive like it has never been in the history since it was created," said Mark Amodei, the retiring Republican congressman who has represented the northern Nevada district for the past 15 years. "And you know what I attribute that to? I attribute it to the candidate and the way he's run his campaign."
The Washington Post was first to report that Flippo's campaign repeatedly mischaracterized his military service, in fundraising appeals and a video from an earlier congressional run. In the video, the booming voice of a narrator described Flippo as "a recipient of the Bronze Star that he received for Valor."
Candidate blames young staff and grandkids
But Flippo didn't receive a bronze star with the "V" for valor, which requires bravery in battle. It's a big distinction that most veterans notice. Flippo held a press conference where he apologized and blamed a young staffer for mixing up the word "valor" from an award his whole unit received. In an interview with NPR, Flippo said the language about his awards got "edited and convoluted" and he "missed it," then caught it, but somehow it worked its way back into his campaign materials. Still, Flippo said he accepts responsibility.
"Look, part of leadership is taking ownership," he said. "It was just an honest oversight."
Flippo defended wearing the "V" on a ball cap next to his Bronze Star medal. In fact, a photo prominently displayed on his campaign website, showed him wearing two bronze "V" pins. He also wore it regularly at campaign events, including his primary night victory party. This was initially noted by the conservative outlet Nevada News & Views but Flippo addressed the question of why he was displaying those two "V" pins for the first time publicly in his interview with NPR.
"You know if you've lived with grandkids, and you know, you kind of know, when you ask them to put those things on your hat," Flippo said before offering further evidence. "Actually, answer me this. I do have another hat that's just like it, because you misplace one or whatever, and that does not have any V devices on it, so and I was like 'where did that other V device go?' So, the grandkids ended up doing that."
The campaign removed the photo from his website shortly after our interview. Flippo chalked the controversy up to politics.
"It's just crazy what people are going to go after," he said.
Brand new to the district
Earlier this year, Flippo was running for congress in Las Vegas when Amodei announced he would be retiring. So Flippo swapped districts to run for the open seat, some seven hours to the north by car from where he had been running.
With the neon Reno arch behind him and a Trump 47 hat on his head, Flippo announced in a video that he was all in for Nevada's 2nd Congressional District. The district was drawn in 1981 to be strongly Republican and Democrats have never even come close to winning here.
"This is a strong conservative district," Flippo said in an interview with NPR. "I was talking with the people that have endorsed me such as Turning Point and other organizations that are on the conservative side. The belief was that this being a conservative district we should get somebody that is more conservative in this seat."
Flippo handily won the Republican primary with Trump's endorsement. But in recent weeks Republican super PACs have had to come to Flippo's rescue with more than $1 million in TV and digital advertising reservations, according to AdImpact data.
"They must have gotten a poll and had a five alarm fire at headquarters and said we have to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into that district to save this guy," said Jon Ralston, a longtime Nevada political journalist and founder of the Nevada Independent.
Trump won this district by 14 points two years ago, and while Ralston is skeptical a Democrat can ultimately win, he sees signs everywhere that Republicans are treating this like a real race.
Earlier this week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Flippo's opponent Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson to its competitive "Red to Blue" program, meaning she'll get extra support from the party committee, which sees this as a winnable race.
"In the state legislature, Teresa was known for crossing the aisle and doing what's right for Northern Nevadans," DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement. "Against a scandal-plagued opponent who even Republicans don't like, Teresa is the leader Nevada families deserve."
At a recent candidate meet and greet in southern Reno, Benitez-Thompson played up her deep roots in the district, going back to her early childhood.
"This is home," she said, a not so subtle nod to the fact that her opponent was living and running for office in an entirely different part of the state just six months ago.
A former Miss Nevada, she's now raising four children in Reno. Something she talks about with voters a lot is affordability, including sky-high gas prices and expensive groceries.
"Look, when I talk about the fact that I'm in the middle of this with everyone I really mean it," she tells a voter. "No one has to give me talking points on the cost of groceries. I know exactly what a full grocery cart looks like. I know exactly what prices have been doing in the last year."
But there are far more Republican and independent voters in this district than Democrats, a mathematical obstacle for Benitez-Thompson.
"Literally if someone stands still for 5 seconds, I will talk to them," she said in an interview conducted in her kitchen while making her two youngest children an after school snack. "We have focused a lot on reaching outside our Democratic circle."
The candidate meet and greet was attended by voters with a wide range of political affiliations from a conservative-leaning Trump voter who asked Benitez-Thompson about socialism to a Democrat who complained she was too moderate.
Grant Sims and his daughter Jessica Sims said they don't always agree politically. He's a former Republican turned independent hoping a blue wave will send a message. She's a Democrat who ticked through a laundry list of concerns about Flippo.
"My brother was in the Marine Corps," Jessica Simms said in explaining her concerns with Flippo's Bronze Star controversy. "Even if he did receive a certain type of medal, but claiming it's more than what he received, I'm not OK with it at all. And I don't like the carpetbagging of him. You know, moving up here because there is a vacancy in the House."
A question hanging over this race, where there hasn't been any recent public polling, is whether these concerns about Flippo have broken through more broadly with voters.
The top issue is affordability
Benitez-Thompson argues that Congress needs to step up and put a check on President Trump and his policies, including the trade wars and his war with Iran, which voters blame for the high prices hitting their family budgets.
Flippo also says affordability is a problem, and admits "the cost of living is not in our favor right now."
But he strongly supports the war with Iran and like President Trump sees the elevated prices Americans are experiencing as short term pain, worth it if Iran is prevented from getting a nuclear weapon.
"I feel very confident that once this is taken care of, we'll see gas prices go right back down," he said.
Flippo's military service is a key part of his pitch to voters. In the interview with NPR, he described several tours through the middle east over a 24 year career in the Air Force, including time as a logistics commander, standing up air bases in Iraq.
"My whole career was spent eating the dust and dirt there in the Middle East and that's why I have an understanding of what's going on right now with Iran," he said.
Campaign finance records indicate he's loaned $1.6 million to his campaigns this election cycle, a significant share of his reported personal wealth. Flippo said he recently sold his businesses to prepare for serving in congress.
"Yeah, it's a lot, I'm not going to lie. But to me, this country's worth it," he said.
Flippo's campaign did not respond to requests for his financial disclosures, which are overdue.
A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said Democrats are "delusional" if they think this race is competitive.
But Rep. Mark Amodei disagrees. He said he's heard from a lot of Republicans who are reluctant to vote for Flippo. And he's adamant, he won't be endorsing the man who hopes to be his successor.
"It's like, I'm not hugging this," he said of Flippo. "I'm just not doing it. It's not my last move walking out the door."
Copyright 2026 NPR
