Representative Cresent Hardy

Cresent Leo Hardy (born June 23, 1957) is an American politician, businessman, and former public works official who represented Nevada’s 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Nevada Assembly from 2010 to 2014 and has been active in state and local government as well as in private enterprise. Over the course of one term in Congress, Hardy contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents in a newly created and politically competitive district.

Hardy was raised in the Virgin Valley region of southern Nevada. He graduated from Virgin Valley High School and went on to attend Dixie State College (now Utah Tech University) in St. George, Utah. After leaving college, he returned to the Mesquite area, where he began building a career in business and local civic affairs. His early life in a small, fast-growing desert community helped shape his later focus on infrastructure, water resources, and rural economic development.

Since leaving college, Hardy has pursued a wide-ranging business career. He became a partial owner of properties in Alaska and Utah as well as in and around Mesquite, Nevada, reflecting a diversified portfolio in real estate and development. Prior to entering Congress, he was a partner in a construction company, gaining experience in building and infrastructure projects in the rapidly developing communities of southern Nevada. He was also one of several owners of Mesquite’s Falcon Ridge Golf Course, which he personally helped design, underscoring his role in local tourism and recreation development.

Hardy’s career in government began at the municipal and special-district level in Mesquite. He served as public works director for the City of Mesquite, Nevada, where he oversaw local infrastructure and public services. He went on to serve as a member of the Virgin Valley Water District, dealing with critical water supply and resource issues in the arid region, and as a member of the Mesquite City Council, where he participated in city governance during a period of growth and economic diversification. Building on this local experience, Hardy was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 2010, serving from 2010 to 2014. In the Assembly he represented a rural and small-town constituency and aligned with Republican positions on fiscal and regulatory policy.

In 2014, Hardy ran as the Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Nevada’s 4th congressional district, a seat then held by first-term Democrat Steven Horsford. In the general election, Hardy defeated Horsford, winning 48.5 percent of the vote to Horsford’s 45.7 percent, and began serving in the 114th Congress on January 3, 2015. After his election, Hardy held a number of community meetings throughout the district. He reported that the two issues he heard about most often from constituents were jobs and health care, and he identified these as priorities in his congressional work. During his term, he voted on major national issues and took positions consistent with his party on many economic and foreign policy questions. He opposed President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran and voted against an amendment to defund Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, reflecting a nuanced approach to immigration policy within a generally conservative framework.

During his service in the House of Representatives, Hardy held assignments on several key committees. He served on the Committee on Natural Resources, including the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and the Subcommittee on Federal Lands, where he engaged with issues central to Nevada’s large federal land holdings and resource development. He was a member of the Committee on Small Business, chairing the Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce and serving on the Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations, roles that allowed him to focus on the regulatory environment and federal contracting opportunities for small firms. He also served on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, including the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, and the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, reflecting his longstanding interest in infrastructure, transportation, and water policy. In 2016, he joined Representative Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama, in introducing the bipartisan Rural Health Enhancement and Long Term Health (HEALTH) Act, legislation intended to forestall the closure of rural hospitals and improve access to medical care in underserved communities.

Hardy sought a second term in 2016. He faced two challengers in the Republican primary held in June 2016 and prevailed decisively, winning 77.44 percent of the vote. In the general election, he was opposed by Democratic state senator Ruben Kihuen. Although Hardy carried six of the district’s seven counties, he was unable to overcome a substantial deficit in Clark County, the state’s most populous county, and Kihuen defeated him with 48.5 percent of the vote. During that campaign, Hardy initially supported Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but in October 2016 he announced that he would not vote for Trump, a notable break with his party’s standard-bearer in a highly polarized election year.

After leaving Congress in January 2017, Hardy remained active in Nevada politics. In January 2018, following the withdrawal of Republican Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony from the race, Hardy announced his candidacy to reclaim his former seat in Nevada’s 4th congressional district. He won the June 2018 Republican primary and received support from national party figures, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who campaigned for him in Las Vegas in August 2018. In the general election, Hardy faced Democratic nominee Steven Horsford, the former representative he had unseated in 2014. Horsford defeated Hardy, winning 52 percent of the vote to Hardy’s 44 percent, with third-party candidates receiving the remaining 4 percent. Hardy later sought a return to Congress in a different constituency, running unsuccessfully for Nevada’s 1st congressional district in the 2022 election. Meanwhile, the 4th district seat he once held saw further turnover: Ruben Kihuen, who had defeated Hardy in 2016, retired after one term amid sexual misconduct allegations, and Horsford returned to Congress representing the district.

In his personal life, Hardy is married to Peri Jean Hardy. The couple has four children and two grandchildren. In August 2016, during his re-election campaign, Hardy suffered a heart attack while preparing to undergo a colonoscopy. He was hospitalized, and doctors discovered that he had been living with a collapsed artery in his heart; they inserted two stents to repair it. Remarkably, he returned to the campaign trail the next day, underscoring both the seriousness of the health episode and his determination to continue his political work. Hardy has continued to be identified with the business and political life of Mesquite and the broader Nevada region, maintaining his involvement in real estate and community affairs alongside his intermittent bids for federal office.