Democrat Jon Penn Junejo Challenges Hafen in Assembly District 36 Race

Jon Penn Junejo, a psychiatrist working in inpatient consult psychiatry for a telehealth company serving Nevada, entered the race for Assembly District 36 as a Democrat, setting up a challenge to Republican incumbent Gregory Hafen II, who has held the seat since 2018.

Junejo is framing mental health as the centerpiece of his campaign, but with a deliberate nonpartisan pitch. "Mental health, for instance, is not a partisan issue. It affects Republicans, Democrats, as well as independents," he said. "When people see that this applies to several more issues, like education and infrastructure spending, I believe that they will tack on to that and it will allow that to inform their opinions on the issues and ultimately how they vote in this election."

His platform also names education, economic development, ensuring Nye County's economic success, and rural mental health access as priorities. The rural angle is more than rhetorical: Junejo is in the process of starting his own medical practice that would serve both Clark and Nye counties, tying his professional plans directly to the district he wants to represent.

Junejo's path to this race runs through 12 states and one ocean. Born in Sindh, Pakistan, he immigrated to the United States in 1993 at about six months old, raised by a single mother who moved the family across the country before he reached high school.

Despite running to flip a seat that has been in Republican hands for eight years, Junejo did not open with an attack on the man currently holding it. He thanked Hafen II for his work in the Assembly and acknowledged the Hafen family's positive impact in the area, while arguing that fresh perspective is needed to address what remains unresolved in the district.

"I feel very confident in the support that I've been able to generate so far," Junejo said.

The 2026 general election will test whether a nonpartisan health-first message can move voters in a district that has not sent a Democrat to Carson City in nearly a decade.