Nevada local government candidates: Who’s running in school board, city, county races

During Nevada’s nearly two-week candidate filing period, hundreds of down-ballot candidates filed for crucial yet often under-the-radar local offices in the state’s two most populous counties.

Though down-ballot races are often overshadowed in presidential election years, the races have significant consequences for day-to-day life in Nevada communities, such as school boards setting education policy and local governments overseeing land use permits and business licensure.

Many local government races are nonpartisan, which means candidates are not identified by political party and all voters, regardless of party registration, can vote in the race.

In some nonpartisan races, the June 11 primary election can be even more pivotal than in partisan races, as candidates who win more than 50 percent of the vote are automatically elected to the office without having to run in the Nov. 5 general election. For more guidance on those races from the secretary of state’s office, click here. Non-judicial candidates had until March 26 to withdraw from races.

Among the most potentially competitive local government elections are the open Las Vegas mayoral race featuring 14 candidates, and an open Clark County Commission race featuring five candidates including Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (D-Las Vegas) and Republican April Becker, who lost to Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) in the 2022 general election.

For a full list of candidates running in major races, check out the spreadsheet on our candidate filing live blog and our highlights of federal and legislative races here. 

Here are highlights from local government candidate filings:

CLARK COUNTY

Clark County Commission

The partisan Clark County Commission is the most powerful county commission in the state, having control over local laws and government money allocated for the most populated area in Nevada. 

Three incumbents are running for re-election, while the District C seat — open after Ross Miller announced he would not seek re-election — attracted five candidates, including:

• Democratic Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod, who has served in the Assembly since 2017
• Republican April Becker, who lost to Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) in the 2022 election

Meanwhile, Democratic commissioners Marilyn Kirkpatrick, William McCurdy II and Michael Naft are defending their seats against lesser-known candidates.

Clark County School Board

The Clark County School Board consists of seven elected members and four appointed members who oversee a district of 300,000 students and about 40,000 employees — the state’s largest. 

The board hires and manages the district’s superintendent, manages district policy and approves the district’s budget.

Twenty-five candidates are vying for one of the four seats on the ballot this year. Only one of the four incumbents, Board President Evelyn Garcia Morales, filed for re-election.

Among the candidates are two members of the Clark County chapter of the Moms for Liberty, including Vice President Lorena Biassotti. 

Las Vegas City Council

Fourteen candidates have filed to run in the nonpartisan race for Las Vegas mayor, the first time in more than 20 years that a member of the Goodman family is not running.

Former U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat who represented Nevada’s 1st Congressional District from 1999 to 2013, is looking to re-enter Nevada politics and brought in a race-leading $1.1 million in campaign donations last year. Berkley left office after losing a 2012 bid to unseat then-Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV).

She’ll likely face stiff competition from Las Vegas City Councilman Cedric Crear, who has been in office since 2018 and previously served on the state Board of Regents. He raised more than $420,000 last year and has nearly $800,000 in cash on hand.

City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, who has represented Ward 2 since 2019 and served a term in the Assembly, is also running. She raised more than $750,000 last year.

And Kara Jenkins, the director of the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, which is responsible for addressing workplace discrimination allegations, is running for elected office for the first time. She raised $47,000 last year. 

In addition, three nonpartisan city council seats are up for grabs, including the Ward 5 seat that Crear is vacating.

Former Nevada Assemblyman Cameron “C.H.” Miller (D-Las Vegas) and Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong (D-Las Vegas) are running for the Ward 5 seat after declining to run for re-election. Both members entered office in 2021.

The incumbents in the two remaining races — Councilman Brian Knudsen for Ward 1 and Olivia Diaz for Ward 3 — each have two challengers. Knudsen’s challengers are political newcomers, while Diaz is facing the candidate she narrowly defeated in 2022 (Melissa Clary) and a former Republican candidate for state Senate (David Gomez II).

Henderson City Council

Three nonpartisan Henderson City Council seats are up for re-election this year, and all three incumbents are running.

Challengers include Bristol Marunde, an HGTV host and retired UFC fighter, who filed to run against Ward 2 incumbent Dan Shaw. Cherlyn Arrington, who narrowly lost a bid for Nevada Senate in 2022 as a Republican, is running against Ward 4 incumbent Dan Stewart.

North Las Vegas City Council

Two nonpartisan seats on the North Las Vegas City Council are up for re-election this year, but only one is contested.

Councilman Richard Cherchio, who has represented Ward 4 since 2015, is running unopposed.

In the race for Ward 2, incumbent Ruth Anderson, who was appointed in December 2022, has two opponents: Robert Taylor, a small business owner who finished third in the city’s 2022 mayoral election, and Billy Lamont Riley, a member of the city’s planning commission who finished a distant fourth in the Ward 4 race in 2019.

WASHOE COUNTY

Washoe County Commission

Two seats on the partisan Washoe County Commission are up in 2024.

District 1 has four candidates running including:

• Incumbent Alexis Hill, a Democrat who has been on the commission since 2022 and is the current chair.

• Marsha Berkbigler, a Republican who was ousted by Hill in 2022.

Meanwhile, District 4 Commissioner Clara Andriola — a Republican appointed to the board last year by Gov. Joe Lombardo — is facing six opponents.

Some notable candidates challenging Andriola include:

• Tracey Hilton-Thomas, the vice chair of the Washoe County GOP
• Mark Lawson, who was fired as the Sparks fire chief in December 2022 and recently won a $381,000 settlement from the city after a monthslong legal battle

Despite being of different political parties, both Hill and Andriola have faced attacks from Robert Beadles, a prominent Republican donor and election conspiracy theorist.

Washoe County School Board

The Washoe County School Board consists of seven elected members and oversees a  district of about 60,000 students and more than 7,000 employees — the state’s second largest. 

There are 19 candidates vying for the four nonpartisan seats on the 2024 ballot, including four incumbents — Board President Beth Smith and Trustees Jeff Church, Alex Woodley and Diane Nicolet. 

Reno City Council

Ward boundary changes have been a major factor in the nonpartisan 2024 Reno City Council election, as the city gained a new ward and the at-large position was dissolved — forcing several incumbents into new districts.

Ward 1 has eight candidates (including a current member of the council) running, including:

• Kathleen Taylor, the council’s Ward 5 representative since September 2022 when she was appointed.
• Frank Perez, the former chair of the Washoe County Library Board
• Lily Baran, a local housing activist

Ward 3 has five candidates including:

• Councilman Miguel Martinez, the only incumbent not affected by the ward changes. He was appointed in October 2022.
• Denise Myer, who lost a county commission race in 2022.

Four candidates filed to run in the new Ward 5 including:

• Former At-Large Councilman Devon Reese, whose seat was dissolved after SB12 passed in the 2023 legislative session. He has been on the city council since his appointment in 2019. 
• Tara Webster, a member of the Reno Parks and Recreation Commission.
• Sheila Rose Browning-Peuchaud, the founder of a health coaching company

Seven candidates filed to run in Ward 6 which candidates include

• William Mantle, who has worked for Washoe County for more than six years
• Thomas Heck, a businessman who ran for governor in 2022
• Michaelangelo Aranda, a human resources professional who serves on several county advisory boards
• Brandi Nicole Anderson, a marketing professional who runs her own consulting firm

Sparks City Council

All three Sparks City Council incumbents up for election this cycle are running to retain their nonpartisan seats. 

Incumbent Paul Anderson is facing lesser known candidates in his re-election bid for Ward 3.

Meanwhile, three candidates filed in the race for Ward 1:

• Incumbent Donald Abbott, who has been on the council since 2016

• Christine Garvey, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Sparks mayor in 2022 and was a Clark County School Board trustee from 2008 to 2021.

Ward 5 also has notable candidates running:

•  Incumbent Kristopher Dahir, who has been on the council since 2016

• Joe Rodriguez, a Washoe County School Board trustee since 2021

BOARD OF REGENTS

The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents is made up of 13 nonpartisan regents who serve six-year terms. Regents set policies and approve budgets for the Silver State’s higher education institutions, including public community colleges and universities.

Four spots on the board are up in 2024 — three in Clark County (Districts 1, 4 and 12) and one in Northern Nevada (District 9).

District 1 is the only open seat up this cycle, after incumbent Regent Laura E. Perkins opted to run for a North Las Vegas state Senate seat. Notable candidates running in that district include:

• Carlos Fernandez, currently the executive director of The American Institute of Architects, and a former lobbyist for the Las Vegas Chamber

The District 4 race has five candidates, including:

• Incumbent Regent Donald Sylvantee McMichael Sr., who has been on the board since 2019
• Richard Carrillo, a former state assemblyman for Southern Nevada from 2011 to 2020.
• Tonia Holmes-Sutton, the chair of the Nevada State Charter School Authority board

Three candidates are looking to represent District 9 in 2024, including:

• RegentIncumbent Carol Del Carlo, an Incline Village resident who has been on the board since 2016.
• Gary T. Johnson, a physician and former chair and director of UNR’s medical department.

District 12 has two candidates:

• Regent Incumbent Amy Carvalho, the current chair who has been on the board since 2018.
• Jonathan Maxham, a doctor of osteopathic medicine in Las Vegas.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

The State Board of Education oversees all of Nevada’s 17 school districts, setting and sets policies and goals to improve student achievement, and monitoring districts’ data. Four of the board’s 11 members are elected, with the rest appointed.

Because of redistricting, two incumbent board members (René Cantú and Timothy Hughes) are running in new districts, and another board member appointed last year (Angela Orr) is running for a full four-year term.

Other candidates include former Clark County School Board Trustee Danielle Ford and Timothy Underwood, the senior adviser of the Clark County chapter of the Moms for Liberty, a conservative, parental rights group.