RENO, Nev. (AP) — Five-term Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, Democratic challenger Patricia Ackerman and American Independent Janine Hansen face off Friday night at a candidates forum in a heavily GOP northern Nevada district that no Democrat has ever won.

Amodei, 62, a longtime state lawmaker from Carson City, served as chairman of the Trump Nevada campaign in 2016. He's never faced a serious threat in a general election for the U.S. House.

Ackerman, 63, a retired businesswoman and former actress from Minden, lost her first election in a bid to unseat then-Assembly GOP Leader Jim Wheeler two years ago. In the June congressional primary, she knocked off 2018 district Democratic nominee Clint Koble.

Republicans have a commanding voter registration advantage in the sprawling 2nd Congressional District created in 1982 that's now 41% GOP, 30% Democrat and 23% unaffiliated. It’s the only one of Nevada’s four congressional seats currently held by a Republican.

Amodei first won the seat in a special election in 2011 after then-GOP Rep. Dean Heller was appointed to the U.S. Senate when Republican John Ensign resigned. Amodei defeated Koble in the previous election 58% to 42%.

Amodei reported raising $298,000 in the third quarter of 2020 and started the final stretch of his campaign with $396,000 in his account.

Ackerman reported raising $238,000, nearly five times more than what she brought in during the previous quarter. She started October with about $101,000 in her campaign account.

Hansen, 68, a Sparks native, is the president of Nevada Families for Freedom, the state affiliate of the Eagle Forum. The longtime conservative activist hasn't reported raising any money for the race.

The 6 p.m. virtual forum being livestreamed from Carson City is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Northern Nevada, in partnership with Sierra Nevada Forums and te Nevada branch of the American Association of University Women. It's co-sponsored by NGBN-TV and the Nevada Appeal.