Dan Rodriguez, the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce vice-president, who announced last April he would seek the candidacy for Nye County commissioner of District 1, has dropped out of the race.

That leaves one announced candidate -- Lorinda Wichman -- in the running to succeed Roberta "Midge" Carver, whose term expires in January 2009.

"I met with Lorinda, we sat and talked. There's not much difference between her and I. It's a little different running against someone you can support," Rodriguez said.

Wichman is a government affairs representative for Round Mountain Gold Co. and was an administrative assistant to former Nye County managers Dave Chavez and Mike Maher from 2001-2003.

"If she's going to do it, I'd be happy to step back and run my business," Rodriguez said, who operates a dry-cleaning business in Pahrump.

Rodriguez said originally his thinking was to have a Pahrump candidate seeking the position. District 1 includes areas in eastern Pahrump where there are 2,653 registered voters.

However, Rodriguez also took note of the size of the vast district, which stretches all the way up to Round Mountain, Railroad Valley and Ione, as a factor in his decision.

Instead, Rodriguez would like to get involved at the state level in family services, citing the difficulty he has endured in order to adopt children.

"I would say at this time I'm holding my decision on filing until the deadline," Rodriguez said.

The deadline to file for the election is in May 2008, although many candidates are announcing their candidacy early, like state Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, who announced at the Lincoln Day dinner last February he'd seek re-election in November 2008.

Rodriguez moved to Pahrump five years ago and originally operated the McDonald's Restaurant here.

He came from Ely, where he opened a McDonald's and co-founded a tourism advisory board. Rodriguez was president of chambers of commerce in Ely and in his native Colorado; he's scheduled to take over as Pahrump Valley Chamber president next January.