We move now to Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, a highly competitive seat, which Democratic Congresswoman Susie Lee has won in three straight elections.

What issues threaten to unseat her this election year?

We asked her that and more.

-Let's start with the economy.

According to the Pew Research Center, nearly three quarters of Americans say that strengthening the economy should be the top priority of Congress this year.

First, how would you describe the state of the economy right now?

(Susie Lee) Well, listen, you know, I represent incredible hard working people in Southern Nevada, very resilient.

And but many of them are struggling with the cost of groceries and gas, and so they do want to see Congress actually getting to work to do things that will deliver some form of relief.

And I'm proud to say that we delivered on the Inflation Reduction Act, which cut the cost of health care, cut the cost of prescription drugs.

We certainly have more work to do, especially here in Southern Nevada with respect to housing, but my constituents want to see that we're actually working on it, that we're addressing the economy.

-Is the issue of the economy the biggest threat to your reelection, do you think?

-Listen, there are so many issues that people talk about with respect to my election.

I think that I represent a district, as you know, that's one of the most competitive districts in the country.

There is a lot of outside spending that comes in to try to flip this seat from Democrat to Republican.

And but, you know, I think that people have seen-- you know, many of my people, the people I represent are not partisan.

They understand that so many issues are nuanced.

They're not black and white.

And they just want to know that they have someone in Washington who's willing to work across the aisle, who's willing to get into the weeds, who isn't on Twitter, who isn't out on national news all the time.

I'm actually in backrooms working with Republicans, which is why I've been ranked the most bipartisan member of Congress.

-One of your potential opponents is a video game music composer, Marty O'Donnell.

And he says that illegal immigration is part of what's hurting the American economy, saying, "Big corporations have kept paychecks down by hiring illegal immigrants and paying them lower wages.

American workers are getting squeezed."

What do you think of that claim?

-Well, I think Marty should talk to his own party because we had a bipartisan border security bill that was ready to pass the Senate that had been negotiated for months and months and months.

The former President sends a tweet, basically saying we can't solve this problem because it's such a good campaign issue.

And this has been the problem with immigration reform because it has been used as a political football for decades.

-You say he should speak with his own party, yet you are also calling out the leader of your own party, President Biden, with a letter, one of 15 House Democrats to sign a letter to him, asking that he take executive action on the US border with Mexico.

What specifically would you like him to do?

-That letter is, I'm like, let's get all hands on deck here.

We know that the President has executive action he can take.

But the problem is this isn't a first choice.

This is a last choice.

This is just bringing all tools in the toolbox to bear here on this issue.

You know, the problem with executive action, unfortunately, it will probably see a legal challenge.

It will be held up in the courts for months.

Again, I keep going back to we have a bipartisan bill that, by the way, the President was a part of those negotiations.

And if they really are serious about border security, let's bring that bill to the floor and get it passed and get investments into our border.

-Now, you did sign that letter, but did you not also vote for a resolution denouncing the Biden administration's immigration policies?

-Absolutely.

-Okay.

So that's a little bit stronger than just, This is our second option.

-Yeah.

No, I understand.

I think that we need to all be, understand when it comes to immigration reform, we need to have rules.

People need to have consequences if they break those rules, but we also need to have a system that people, if they prove that they should be here, that decision will be fair and fast and final and that those people who do make it into our country via asylum or however-- you know, there are other ways for people to come to our country.

Right now, asylum happens to be the only legal pathway that tends to be used by most people.

But also they need to have work requirements when they get here to make sure they get to work and start contributing to our economy.

And speaking of our economy, we need immigration.

We need legal immigration.

We need people to come here.

I'm in my community, whether I'm talking to a small business, some restaurants are closing their restaurants on Wednesday night or Thursday night because they don't have enough servers.

I hear it from big businesses as well.

We need workers.

So this is an immigration reform is an issue that Congress has failed on for decades.

-When you talk about work requirements, where do you stand on electronic verification of a potential employee?

-I support verify.

-You do?

-Yeah.

-Okay.

How do you describe the state of the border right now?

-Listen, there are so many pressures for people wanting to come to the United States.

Climate is having an impact.

Corrupt governments are having an impact.

The border is a crisis at this point.

And I'll say it again, we have a solution.

It has been negotiated.

Mike Johnson could put it on the floor tomorrow and it would pass.

Then we can get it to the President's desk.

We could get $20 billion in border security.

We could hire more asylum judges.

There would be more detention beds, more CPP agents.

So we have it.

I keep saying, Republicans, if you're serious about this issue, then they should be writing a letter to their leader asking for a vote on this.

-What are you hearing from potential voters about what matters to them right now?

Are they talking about immigration?

-Absolutely.

Immigration, cost of living is an issue.

I hear a lot about water.

Obviously, being in Southern Nevada, and we can't ignore access to abortion.

Even though we are in a state where abortion is protected, we know that there were 115 bills introduced last Congress trying to restrict abortion nationwide.

We know that that is a potential should Democrats lose control of the House and the Senate and the Presidency, that a national abortion ban will be on the docket.

And we've seen it in state after state since Roe v. Wade has gone down, you know, went down.

Think about this: A third of women in this country who are childbearing age, 1/3 live in states where abortion has been banned or severely restricted.

And that is an issue that is very important, especially for-- and it's not just for women.

Men care about this issue too, because it's a freedom issue.

It's a freedom of choice issue, making sure that women are able to make the choice.

It's a very, very personal, very complicated decisions.

You know, I suffered three miscarriages.

Both of my children were IVF, were conceived via IVF.

I understand very intimately that pregnancy and reproductive care is a very delicate issue that should be between a woman and her doctor.

-And when you heard about efforts to restrict access to in vitro fertilization, having utilized this yourself, what did you think?

-I, well, I always said when Roe v Wade went down, that this isn't just about Roe v. Wade.

This is about controlling women's bodies.

And in the IVF, I knew was going to be on the chopping block in Alabama with their Supreme Court decision made it clear.

And listen, infertility is an illness, and IVF is a treatment.

And just like abortion is a reproductive care treatment, it is a tool in a toolbox that doctors should be able to have that women should be able to choose.

And no politician, I don't care if it's in the Alabama Supreme Court or in the halls of Washington, D.C., should be involved in that decision except for a woman and her doctor.

-But you did say that this issue impacts men as well.

-Absolutely.

-For the right to an abortion, there are men-- there are fathers who will say, I don't want her to have that abortion.

-And that is the decision that they should be able to make on their own.

-The woman?

-Yeah.

The woman, yes.

-Not the father?

-They should be involved together.

-Okay, all right.

Last thing I would like talk about is there's this interesting dynamic of this public lands bill that you have proposed.

How would it address the housing issue, the affordability housing issue in Nevada?

-The ACE Act, yes.

So basically, over 80% of the land in Nevada is federally controlled.

In order for us to accelerate the building of housing, you have to, we call it dispose of the land and make it available for development.

If a developer were to come in to do that, they have to get an appraisal on that land.

Right now private appraisers cannot operate across state lines.

And all my bill does is reduce that red tape.

It doesn't cost the federal government any money.

It just says, You know what?

If you're an appraiser in Utah, you can come appraise land, of federal land, here in Nevada.

So just, one, it's one of those barriers that prevents and slows down the development of land so we can get it on the market for housing.

And I was very proud that Governor Joe Lombardo endorsed the bill.

You know, so it shows it is a bipartisan bill.

I introduced it with Dave Joyce from Ohio, a Republican.

And I'm hoping we get it across the finish line and we start to, one, just eliminate one more barrier.

-And I said "interesting dynamic" because Republican Governor Joe Lombardo publicly endorsed this bill.

You are a Democrat, but he's also endorsing that potential opponent we discussed, Marty O'Donnell.

Your thoughts?

-That's right.

Listen, he's the Republican-- he's the leader of the Republican Party in Nevada.

Republicans want to-- they look at this seat as their best shot for getting a flip of a seat here in Nevada.

So they're going to put all resources into doing that.

-Representative Susie Lee, thank you for joining Nevada Week.

-Thank you.