Candidate filing is still months away — in March 2024 for those seeking a seat in the Legislature — but campaign season is already well underway, with Republicans and Democrats sparring over critical battleground seats that will determine the balance of power in the 2025 legislative session.
This election cycle, Democrats are looking to bolster their legislative majorities and secure veto-proof, two-thirds supermajorities in both chambers. Democrats already hold a 28-seat supermajority in the 42-member Assembly, and are just one short of the 14 seats needed for a supermajority in the 21-member Senate.
However, Republicans are trying to stop Democrats so Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo retains veto power. If Democrats attain a supermajority in both chambers, they can override any governor veto.
For a full breakdown of who has announced so far, check out our tracker. Read further below for details on candidate announcements and how races are shaping up.
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Last updated: Sept. 21, 2023
Hafen announces re-election bid
Third-term Assemblyman Gregory Hafen II (R-Pahrump) announced in mid-September that he would be running for re-election in 2024 to represent Assembly District 36.
“Republicans throughout the state must ensure they vote Republican all the way down the ticket in the 2024 election in order to prevent Democrat super majorities in both houses,” Hafen said in his campaign announcement. “We must defend Governor Lombardo’s ability to veto the bad policies of the Democrat Party that harm hard working Nevadans.”
Cannizzaro goes for third term
Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas) — the Senate’s majority leader since 2019 and the first woman to hold the title in Nevada — is throwing her hat into the ring for a third (and final, because of term limits) state Senate run in 2024.
Long a swing district, her Summerlin-area Senate District 6 will be easier to defend this go-round, as redistricting gave Democrats an 11-point edge over Republicans among registered voters, per the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
Oldest lawmaker looks to jump from Assembly to open Senate seat
In September, the state’s oldest lawmaker, 80-year-old Assemblyman Richard McArthur (R-Las Vegas), announced a bid for state Senate District 18 which covers the far northwest corner of the Las Vegas Valley.
The district represented by termed-out Sen. Scott Hammond (R-Las Vegas) is the only urban Las Vegas district where the expected vote share favors Republicans over Democrats (51.7 percent to 48.3 percent), according to the Princeton University Gerrymandering Project).
McArthur has served five nonconsecutive terms in the Assembly between 2008 and 2023.
Five Assembly incumbents bow out
As of Sept. 21, at least five members of the state Assembly have announced that they will not be running for re-election in 2024.
Assemblywoman Sabra Newby (D-Las Vegas) has resigned from the Legislature to take a job as deputy city manager in Las Vegas.
“This is my return to local government,” Newby told the Nevada Current. “It’s a passion of mine in terms of service to our citizens. It was the honor of my career to serve as an assemblywoman in the Nevada State Assembly, but I feel like this is my home. I have so much to give in that capacity.”
Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow (D-Las Vegas) announced that she would not run for re-election Sept. 1, a surprise move that came after Gorelow faced increasing pressure to justify taking a new position at a nonprofit that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in legislatively approved funding earlier this year.
Gorelow told The Nevada Independent that the pushback did not affect her decision not to run in 2024 because she wanted to focus on her new role implementing an early intervention program for children with disabilities, which would be time-consuming.
In key legislative battleground Assembly District 29, Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen (D-Henderson) announced she would not be running for re-election in 2024, citing a desire to focus on her private life.
“I am deeply grateful for the trust and support my constituents and supporters have placed in me since 2012, however, I have decided it is time to take a step back from politics and focus on my private life moving forward,” Cohen said in a statement.
Joe Dalia, a Democrat and attorney who Cohen defeated in the primary election last year, is running for the seat again.
In August, Assemblywoman Claire Thomas (D-North Las Vegas) declared her candidacy for Senate District 1, a seat represented by Sen. Pat Spearman (D-North Las Vegas), who is termed out.
Second-term Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas) announced plans in August to run for Southern Nevada’s Congressional District 3 instead of Summerlin’s Assembly District 2, pledging to focus her campaign on education, economic development and public safety.
Democratic Assembly members seeking Senate seats face primary challengers
In two open state Senate districts, competitive Democratic primaries are already beginning to unfold.
Higher education regent and school principal Michelee “Shelly” Cruz-Crawford announced she was running for the overwhelmingly Democratic Senate District 1, represented by termed-out Sen. Pat Spearman (D-North Las Vegas).
Though Cruz-Crawford has the early backing of the Senate Democratic Caucus, she will likely be running against Assemblywoman Claire Thomas (D-North Las Vegas), who announced during the AFL-CIO convention in August that she would be running for the seat.
Within hours of one another, Assemblywoman Angie Taylor (D-Reno) and longtime Reno City Council member Naomi Duerr announced plans in early September to run for Senate District 15 in 2024, setting up a Democratic primary challenge in a key legislative seat closely eyed by both political parties.
The two Democrats are competing for the seat of Sen. Heidi Seevers Gansert (R-Reno), who has spent more than a dozen years in the Legislature but announced in early August that she would not run for re-election in order to spend more time with her family. No Republican candidates have announced for the Senate seat yet.
Her decision not to run for a third term comes after the 2021 redistricting process, in which legislators redrew Seevers Gansert’s district to favor Democratic candidates. The Democratic voter registration advantage over Republicans increased from about 1 point to more than 6 points.
Republicans look to flip swingy Assembly seats
Two of the first Republicans to announce they are seeking to flip control of seats in the Assembly are businessman Brandon Davis and attorney David Brog.
Davis announced in August that he would run for Assembly District 34, which is represented by Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (D-Las Vegas) and one of the seats Republicans are targeting this election cycle.
Davis made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2022 as a Libertarian candidate.
Brog is looking to unseat Assemblywoman Shea Backus (D-Las Vegas), who represents Assembly District 37. Backus won her seat by about 2.6 percentage points in 2022 in a district that has a fairly even distribution of Democrats, Republicans and nonpartisan voters.
Last year, Brog finished second in the Republican primary for Congressional District 1.
