The Globe Interview: U.S. Senate Candidate William Hockstedler

I have interviewed many candidates, but William “Bill” Hockstedler certainly lives up to the billing on his website as a “straight shooter.” Bill had much to say about his background, his first political race, his leading challengers, President Donald Trump, and his neighbors in Nye County. In an unusual move for a candidate trying to build name ID, his personal Twitter account is blocked (campaign twitter is here). And because we just adore unsolicited grammar suggestions here at the Globe, we are advising Bill to correct the word “lead” in his Twitter bio to “led.”

The Globe: So, tell us a little bit about your background prior to moving to Nevada.

Bill Hockstedler: I was born and raised in Virginia and grew up with politicians knocking on the door as my dad was a newspaper editor. I saw how candidates were fighting for coverage. He ending up retiring and bought a farm in Kentucky so I had the experience of city and country life.

I was in the ROTC, went to college, and I ended up joining the army and registered as a Republican to support Ronald Reagan to be my Commander in Chief. I switched to the Air Force and was assigned to Air Force Intelligence during the Persian Gulf War. I was then assigned as an Air Force Liaison to the Defense Intelligence Agency and I learned a lot about our national defense posture working with NATO. At that time, our executive branch set the standard to unwarranted aggression. I took a fairly conservative, republican stance during my years serving in the military.

After the DIA, I got into healthcare and I am the West Coast VP for the Mayo Clinic in Sepsis Response. I work with teams that work on software and computers, behind the scenes, that help doctors save lives.

I have lived all over, but spent much time in Massachusetts. I moved to California for a few years and decided to move to Nevada four years ago because it is freer. I am enjoying life and my career in rural Nevada but before I retire, I asked myself, what else can I do for my country? I noticed we have lost our compass of morality and civility in politics, our schools and our home life– so I decided last August to run for Senate. 

Without name ID in a state like Nevada, why choose the U.S. Senate as your first political run?

All of my opponents are younger than I am. I am old enough to be their father. I have enough life experience and success and I have lived admirably. I have never been a criminal or have been arrested. I don’t have any skeletons. I have never had a DUI like one of my opponents. I don’t have anything to hide. I am a straight shooter. This is part of my platform. I have a straight shooter pledge. We can celebrate American values with civility and decorum but we have lost middle class family time where we can discuss issues of the day or personal issues with the ones we love. (references Leave it to Beaver). I know every family can’t be perfect but these problems are manifested by a declining economy and fast-paced technology that make us suffer as families. The minds are busy, but idle hands are the devils work and we have to make sure our kids are being raised as productive citizens. The true measure of your worth is your productive capacity. You get paid in accordance to what you give back.

Most politicians are in it for themselves. Why would you, if you’re an attorney in Virginia making 2.2 million a year, why take a job that makes so much less? It’s not about the job or money, it’s about the power, prestige, legacy and special interests. People despise that. It’s not your turn because your father or grandfather came before you. Politicians are all about legacy and the special interests– carrying on the family name. People know who and what I am talking about without saying the name and every where I go people despise that and I am not afraid to call that out.

Maintaining economic and military dominance keeps tyranny at bay. I am a little bit old to be running for school board. I think I am qualified to be a senator right now. My opponents may have more money, but I didn’t want to raise a lot of money. I wanted to do this on raising less money and win. I am the true conservative in the room who has answers to constituents questions and problems.

We have to put more responsible, honest people with integrity in Washington that have smarter and more modern solutions to the problems we all face.

What are the top issues and your solutions?

The top issues are financial issues. What we need is economic superiority in the world. This covers a lot of things: oil, inflation, internal monetary problems. We need to be looked at as the financial super power of the world. With that comes great responsibility. If we are asked to contribute to a country who has an economic problem, caused by let’s say, a hurricane, we can fix that. We are a very prosperous nation, but we have our own internal problems.

We are also dealing with gun violence, border, crime and mental illness and we can solve this issues but we have to get our economic house in order in order to take care of these many issues.

I plan on repatriating manufacturing from all foreign countries that we rely on today. For instance, our pharmaceuticals, our PPE, our raw materials, sources of food and water have to be controlled in America, and by bringing that back to America we bring good paying jobs to Americans, we cut out the supply chain problems and much to the surprise to everybody, we end up ending the human rights abuses in other countries, like China who employs slave labor. This will help our economy to get our economic security back.

Beyond that is military dominance. Dominance will ensure that unwarranted aggression against any sovereign nation will not occur. As an example, Biden took military options off the table between Ukraine and Russia. If he didn’t take that off the table, Putin would not have come across the border if he thought Americans would use military force.

Nevada is a big state and the reality is that you’re polling at one percent. What have you done to increase your visibility and establish name ID in Northern Nevada?

I have tried things like MMS text messaging and have tried to get in the papers up north, but it has been tough. I have been on radio and in newspapers in southern Nevada and have done a variety of podcasts. So, I have had more publicity in southern Nevada. But, every time I go out and meet people I do better job every time. Many people find it refreshing that I am not a career politician.

That question should also be asked of Sam Brown. He is younger than me and he won’t debate me unless I raise money. Adam Laxalt said he would debate me about a month ago, but he won’t be able to debate me because he knows that I haven’t met the standards that some news outlets set. I would clean their clocks on the debate stage. A debate can only hurt them.

The Democrats would love to have Brown or Laxalt because they will lose to Catherine Cortez-Masto. I can go toe to toe with Masto. I am qualified, educated and trained and I would be a strong voice for Nevada and I won’t be a back row, third-rate senator when Schumer asks for a vote. We have to reverse the course in Washington.

Now that early voting has started, do you wish you would have raised money earlier to help you raise your profile?

I do, and in the beginning I don’t think I got good advice early on in my campaign. Brown raised a lot of money from the stunt he pulled on Twitter when Twitter took his July 4th tweet down that showed him saluting the flag for “sensitive content.” His campaign was smart, and when he was taken down they had a fundraising letter all ready to go. They placed fear, uncertainty and doubt in the uninformed public to get the small dollar donations from Nevadans and from people around the country. He fleeced Americans and he seems to be led around by his handlers. He either has no integrity as a candidate and human being, or he is easily manipulated. Both show a lack of character, morality and integrity. He even lied about running for office when he talked to a county Republican meeting. He lied to us. I am not trying to sling mud, but I realize this kid needs a job, but needing a job is not a qualification to be a US Senator.

I am not doing this for the money, fame or fortune. This country needs a strong conservative, not a conspiracy theorist. I believe Donald Trump lost that election. I believe the election was fair and square. Yes, there is voter fraud in every election and some is done by Republicans. You know this, Megan.

So, this whole thing about CRT in schools and the false election–the lie, all this stuff is made up and a lot of Republicans are foaming at the mouth because they are mad, angry and embarrassed. I voted for Trump twice, but I was turned off to his style of politics. He did a lot of good things for us, but there is a lot of vitriol out there for him. I am not a Nye County right-wing-conspiracy-theory-tin-hat-wearing guy that comes from Nye County. And we have a lot of those in Nye County.

I am educated. I know how to tie a tie and wear a suit, and I know how to tie my shoes. I am not a conspiracy-theory-right-wing Republican. Here is the problem. Our country, and even our Nevada GOP, is divided. We have people calling people RINO’s. We have to come together as a party and a country if we are going to succeed. I think we can co-exist with the Democrat party, independents or no party at all. We have to get more things accomplished. I am that guy who can help unify will country and the world. The world is depending on us and looks to us as the standard. I have been to 14 countries and every state but Hawaii. I am an open-minded, well-rounded, and well-versed republican who wants to get things done for this country.

After publication, Hockstedler provided the latest polling data by University of Nevada Reno which shows him polling at 5%.