Voter Guide: 2022 Primary Election

We cannot recommend voting for Senator Catherine Cortez Masto for a surplus of reasons. To name a few, she:

• teamed up with Sen. Joe Manchin to kill a provision in an environmental bill that would have required mining companies to pay a royalty for extracting minerals on our public lands
• introduced a bill that would increase our urban sprawl into the desert, despite Nevada facing record-breaking droughts and water shortages.
• voted to confirm multiple judges from the Federalist Society into lifetime appointments in federal courts
• opposed the repeal of Title 42, a policy that Trump used to target and vilify asylum seekers, especially those from Haiti and Latin America
• has received an incredible number of law enforcement endorsements

On the other hand, candidates  Stephanie Kasheta and Allen Rheinhart both come from a place of class solidarity because of their lived experiences. For example, Kasheta has written multiple times about her experience within the violent carceral systems, and demonstrates a fierce dedication to environmental and racial justice. Rheinhart is a proud Democratic Socialist who stands firmly in support of unions, calls out corruption in our political finance systems, and is a Black Lives Matter activist. He also has a specific proposal for reparations for not just Black Americans, but Native Americans as well.

However, neither Kasheta nor Rheinhart have filed any records of campaign contributions and have minimal campaign presence, which leads us to believe that they will not raise anywhere near the tens-of-millions of dollars that would be necessary to be competitive in a U.S. Senate race. Rheinhart is a perennial candidate, and Kasheta doesn’t even have a website as of this writing. We hope that Kasheta and Rheinhart will both consider running for a local seat in the future.

On one hand, Rep. Titus is more progressive than some may realize: she supports Medicare for All, frequently fights for a pathway to citizenship, and has been an ally to the LGBTQ community.

Still, she comes up short in some key areas. For example, she doesn’t support a Green New Deal and she and Sen. Cortez Masto introduced the Clark County lands bill, which would increase Las Vegas’ sprawl and add to our environmental crisis. She also has a long history of supporting the Israeli government’s violence against Palestinians, which isn’t surprising since she is so close to AIPAC.

Amy Vilela doesn’t have these same shortcomings, however. As a member of Las Vegas DSA, she holds every progressive position that Rep. Titus holds and then more. She also hasn’t taken any corporate PAC donations. Although she’s running in a very challenging race, electing Amy Vilela to Congress will add another voice to address climate change, police violence, and unlivable wages. We are disappointed that she backed out of our endorsement process so abruptly, but we ultimately are making the recommendation based on the policy positions that will improve conditions for the working class.

The best way to sum up Rep. Susie Lee is this: she’s a centrist who is proud to be the 10th most bipartisan member of the House.

Still, Randell Hynes is even more problematic and is running on a blend of libertarian and right-wing policies. His platform on his website leans heavily on xenophobia, and also includes the line “PRO CHOICE DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN PRO ABORTION” (yes, in all capital letters). Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to have much of a campaign at all, including zero reported campaign donations.

If you do vote, voting for Rep. Lee is likely the least dangerous option.

We wish that Gov. Sisolak was the socialist that the GOP claims he is. But in truth, he’s a moderate liberal who is well financed by the real estate, land development, and casino industries. He has been heavily focused on diversifying the economy, which unfortunately led to ideas like creating autonomous company towns (which essentially would be modern involuntary servitude and feudalism). He also recently bragged about how police funding has gone up 11% during his term, and that Nevada spends proportionally more on cops than any state in the nation.

The other candidate is former Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, who is probably most known for his aggression towards other county politicians and staff, or his vote to oppose raising taxes to pay for more cops because he didn’t think it went far enough. There’s almost no chance that he’ll beat Gov. Sisolak in the primary, especially since he’s raised relatively no money while Sisolak has nearly $10 million in funding and the support of every establishment Dem in the state.

Neither candidate is going to deliver the systemic changes that we need in Nevada, so we recommend voting for “None of these candidates”.

Elizabeth “Lisa” Cano Burkhead currently holds the seat after being appointed in December. She has an extensive background working in public school settings, from the classroom to regional leadership. Her appointment came as a surprise because she has no political experience to speak of and the Lt. Governor role has nothing to do with education. The role of lieutenant governor is to serve as the chair of the Commision on Tourism, vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Department of Transportation, and other positions related to economic development. Some of our comrades who know personally do not feel that she’s the right person for this role.

Debra March is the current Mayor of Henderson. She’s endorsed by law enforcement associations and the Henderson jail has been coordinating with ICE for years. March was the Mayor when Henderson sold land to the Las Vegas Raiders at half of the appraised price, which the Raiders immediately turned around and sold for 30 times the profit. March is also very popular with the property management groups and land developers, based on her financial filings.

Kimi Cole was the Chair of Rural Caucus of NV Dems as well as Chair of Douglas County Democratic Party, and she could be the state’s first openly transgender statewide elected official. Her platform is very appealing, especially her calls for rail transportation infrastructure and meaningful climate action. She pledged not to take corporate donations, which we know will set back any candidate’s finances. Admittedly, we still found her 2022 financial filings concerning. Not only did she spend more than she raised, but she spent an unusually high amount of money on consultants (even more than March or Burkhead). Typically candidates win by either out-raising their opponents or leading a grassroots volunteer effort, and unfortunately we can’t see that either of these have materialized for Cole. Similar to our reflections on the Senate race, we must be honest about which campaigns actually have a chance to make an impact.

There’s not much to say about the fourth candidate, Eva Chase, who doesn’t seem to be running any significant campaign.

Ellen Spiegel was a longtime member of the Assembly and her website actually demonstrates a solid understanding of the role of Controller. While in the Assembly, she worked to increase access to healthcare and frequently advocates for improved transportation. She showed a strong ability to fundraise in small dollars last year, as opposed to many other candidates who lean on corporate donations and lobbyists.

On the other hand, candidate Alex Costa has an unusual set of responses on Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection, talking about how he was part of the WallStreetBets group that squeezed Gamestop stock. The only piece of information that he provides on his website is that he volunteered at vaccine clinics.

Assemblywoman Torres is a high school teacher who sits on the Education, Judiciary, Legislative Operations and Elections, Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Committees. She has previous endorsements from multiple trade unions, including AFL-CIO, Culinary Union, Teamsters, and more. She opposed Metro’s participation in the 287(g) program, which directs police to report undocumented people to ICE. She championed AB 486 which would have ended summary evictions and would have been a win for renters, however the bill was killed in committee.

Aside from a bit of money from private utility companies, we didn’t find anything too alarming in her 2021 or 2022 financial statements.

The only person who filed to run against Assemblywoman Torres is LaJuana D. Clark, who was arrested for bank robbery in April.

Max Carter II was a union representative and organizer for IBEW for 15 years, and currently a “trauma recovery yoga instructor”. His endorsements and donors include numerous unions and does not include any law enforcement associations, which is interesting since he served on the Civil Service Board of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for twelve years. Hopefully this means that he’s actually willing to hold police accountable. We took a scroll through his Twitter account and it was mostly full of community events and solidarity with workers.

Abraham Camejo owns a construction safety and risk management company and is a former marine. He’s received donations from a few trade unions. We couldn’t find any additional information on him.

This is Angelo Casino’s third run for office, with unsuccessful runs for Nevada State Board of Education in ‘20 and County Assessor in ‘16.  He has not raised or spent any money. He’s a 6th grade teacher at Somerset Academy Lone Mountain.

Each of the three candidates in this race are interesting.

We prefer Will Rucker, who has extensive experience in faith-based and medical organizations. He supports housing for all, and wants to see significant increase in funding for schools and teachers. He talks specifically about not compromising for corporate interest in his Ballotpedia Candidate Connection. A lot of his platform is based on Doughnut Economics – an economic model that strives to provide for all humans while still living with the ecological limits of our world. Although Rucker seems like a capitalism reformist (he has some odd language on his website about healthcare access and money), he is still likely to support policies that will provide meaningful improvement to people’s lives. His financial filings show that all of his donations are from individuals, not corporations.

Daniel Andrews is a Democrat who supports increasing taxes on mining and gaming, is pro-choice, and wants to “lessen the negative impact on our environment by fossil fuels”. He also told the Review Journal that he believes that investing in mental health resources for schools will lower incarceration rates. In the 1990’s he was a Councilmember in the small town of College Park, Maryland. He has raised and spent very little so far for his campaign.

As a person with terminal cancer, Hanna Olivas is a right-to-death advocate. While there is an article saying she moved to California in 2019, there’s also another article that mentions her lobbying for AB351 during the last legislative session. However, we could not find a financial filing or website for this candidate.

This is James M. Fennell II second run for this position, after losing handedly in 2020. Positions on his website include universal healthcare, universal preschool, supporting union rights, and higher wages. His criminal justice positions are all focused on reforming existing systems. He answered Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection questionnaire last cycle, where he talks about wanting to focus on education and addressing water shortages. His financial filing shows no contributions or expenses.

This is also Erica Mosca’s second run for State Assembly, after losing the Assembly District 18 primary in 2018. She has no policy positions listed on her website, however she seems hand-picked by the current elected Democrats since most of her donations are from elected officials. She has worked in various education and non-profit settings. Mosca has extensive experience in political organizations and committees, is a member of the NV State Public Charter School Authority, and currently serves in Rep. Steven Horsford’s Equity Cabinet. She has been endorsed by the Assembly Democratic Caucus and several unions.

On one hand, Fennell doesn’t seem to have much of a campaign. On the other hand, Mosca will likely be another status-quo Democrat. We have no recommendation in this race.

Assemblyman Howard Watts is an incredibly mixed bag. In the last two years, he has been endorsed by at least nine police unions, but also by Our Revolution, PLAN, and dozens of local unions. He has received donations from conservation organizations, but also money from Home Building Industry PAC, Nevada Gold Mines, Nevada Mining Association, and Nevada Realtor’s PAC. His policies are usually progressive, like his bill for more energy-efficient appliances, and bill to ban racists mascots at schools. We wish we could recommend Assemblyman Watts, but we can’t when he has financial ties to some of the most damaging industries in our state.

It was difficult to find meaningful information on Kyle Greenwood. However, we did find this article where he claims to be focused on expanding the solar industry and funding public education. He has a confusing position on Nevada’s right-to-work laws: he says he wants to repeal it so that it’s easier for someone without a union to get a job. His financial filing shows that he has almost no donations or expenses. We could not find a website for his campaign.

Assemblywoman González is a graduate assistant and part-time instructor at UNLV, where she is pursuing her doctorate in multicultural education. She’s a member of Mass Liberation Project, and wants to fight against the prison industrial complex and decrease incarceration rates. Aside from a bit of money from private utility companies, we didn’t find anything alarming in her 2021 or 2022 financial statements. We believe that Cecelia González will help improve the lives of Nevadans.

Chuck Short was formerly the Clark County Court Administrator. He is supported by Nevada Rising PAC, which is helping moderates beat out more progressive candidates in the primary. His financial filings show that his only donation is a $100 donation to himself. It was difficult to find any other information on this candidate.

In addition to being the incumbent, Assemblyman David Orentlicher is a physician, attorney and professor (yes, all of those). He worked as a health policy adviser for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and served the Indiana House from 2002-2008. He is endorsed by Planned Parenthood, several unions, and conservation groups. Last legislative session, he proposed a criminal justice bill to enact race-blind sentencing system, but it died in the Senate Judiciary Committee. He and State Senator Fabian Donate also wrote the bill that would create safe injection facilities, where people facing opioid addiction can take certain substances under the direction of medical personnel as part of a treatment plan. In 2021 and 2022, his donations primarily came from individuals and unions, which is a change from his last election when he received money from Nevada Realtor’s PAC and gold mining companies. As long as he continues to refrain from taking money from the industries that continue to harm Nevadans, we feel comfortable recommending Assemblyman Orentlicher and hope he continues to work to improve our justice and healthcare systems.

Trish Marsh was, until recently, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for State Senate 2012 and for County Commission District E in 2018. Her only reported donation is from herself. We found no campaign website for her.

The leading candidate is Reuben D’Silva, a high school teacher who was previously deployed to Iraq in the Marine Corps, where he earned a Purple Heart. He previously ran against Representative Dina Titus twice, once as a Democrat and once as an Independent. His endorsements include PLAN and CCEA, and his platform says he supports an increased minimum wage and a strong public healthcare system. His website also states “We must provide all Nevada communities with properly staffed and well-trained police officers and public safety professionals.” He’s the proud owner of multiple homes which he rents out. He primarily receives donations from individuals, with the notable exception of $10,000 from CCEA. What made us uncertain about Reuben is that he seems to be excited to rub elbows with almost any politician, no matter their ideology or alignment. He’s already becoming part of the establishment that we fight to dismantle.

Cindi Rivera is an instructional coach for educators and co-founder of a tuition-free charter school in east Las Vegas. Her website states that she believes that housing is a human right and that she wants to increase the minimum wage. Glancing through her Twitter account we can see that she’s been endorsed by several unions and Nevada National Organization for Women (and that she supports our friends at Wild West Acces Fund and the Ironworkers Union). Her donations have all come from individuals, not corporate donors. Although we like her platform, we believe that charter schools must be opposed in all instances because they can contribute to further class separation and give certain groups opportunities that the more marginalized would not have.

Aaron Bautista is a special education teacher whose website shows that he’s very ambitious, with dozens and dozens of bullet pointed goals and values. He has strong points in education, healthcare, and worker’s rights. Still, his website and social media account also show signs of being a little politically scattered at times: he supports Medicare for All, cops, strong unions, and Andrew Yang. Bautista’s few donations have been from individuals.

Antonio Bowen has had a couple of unsuccessful runs for Clark County School Board. His only donation is from health insurance company Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. We could not find a campaign website for this candidate.

Lesley Cohen has held this seat since 2016. In the most recent legislative cycle, she sponsored a bill that gave schools access to Narcan, an antidote to opioid overdose, and a bill that created a support network for emergency responders who are experiencing mental health issues because of their work. She lists more of her sponsored bills on her website. She receives a significant amount of donations from various leadership and political PACs, as well as individual donors.

The challenger is Joe Dalia, who is reminiscent of Pete Buttigieg. He has a relatively generic policy platform on his website. He was recently endorsed by one of the largest law enforcement organizations in the state, and he’s supported by Nevada Rising PAC, which is helping moderates beat out more progressive candidates in the primary. Based on financial filings, he’s the preferred pick of Nevada Realtor PAC.

Tracy Brown-May receives donations from Nevada Realtor’s PAC and Home Building Industry PAC, which disqualifies her from receiving our recommendation.

Sayed Zaidi ran for this seat in 2020 as an independent. He has no campaign to speak of, and he once approached one of our comrades at a political event and half-jokingly asked “What should I run on?”

Last legislative cycle, State Senator Fabian Doñate advocated for SB420, the bill that approved the creation of a public health insurance option in Nevada. He’s been endorsed by multiple unions and progressive orgs. His financial filing shows that he has received most of his money from labor unions and leadership PACS. But he also has a big donation from State Senator Nicole Cannizzaro, probably because he supported MGM’s stop-and-frisk bill with her last cycle. He is also proud of a police endorsement that he received recently, which is why we have no recommendation in this race.

Jack “JT” Absher’s website has some typical and non-specific lines, and his campaign’s Twitter is essentially empty. Aside from a $50,000 loan to himself, Absher has received few donations.

Julie Ann Pazina works in the hospitality and tradeshow industry, and sits on the Commission on Tourism. Her platform didn’t impress us much. She says that investing in public schools is investing in “our future workforce and economy” rather than investing in children. She also supports giving more resources to our already bloated law enforcement. Her donors primarily include unions and political PACs, but she also received a huge infusion of money from current State Senate Dems.

Lisa Guzman is the school board trustee member in District A, and is the Executive Director of NSEA. Her positions include developing a Green New Deal made especially for Nevada, and tying a living wage to inflation. However, she also retweeted a Dina Titus tweet celebrating Israel’s Independence Day, which we recognize as the Nakba.

Assemblyman James Ohrenschall has been in the state legislature for well over a decade. He primarily works on criminal justice reform bills, like this mild police reform bill that he sponsored last cycle. He also introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty in 2019. His website has several impressive positions, notably around civil liberties and conservation. Although we appreciate that his campaign platform does not include anything about increasing funding for the police, we are disappointed that he supported MGM’s stop-and-frisk bill last cycle.

His 2021 and 2022 financial filings show that most of his donations come from political PACs, unions, and private utility companies.

Jacqueline Alvidrez supports Donald Trump and believes in QAnon conspiracies. So Ohrenschall is a notably better pick.

Karl Catarata is currently an undergraduate student at UNLV pursuing a B.A. in Political Science. In the past, he has worked for the City of Las Vegas and several 501(c)4 non-profits such as Organizing for Action and the Asian Community Development Council, and currently serves as the Nevada state director for the Human Rights Campaign. Catarata’s campaign website as well as his answers to NFA’s candidate questionnaire emphasize his desire to keep higher education affordable and accessible to Nevadans, and that his young age (24)  and Filipino heritage will bring a different perspective to the Board. He promises to push the Nevada legislature to prioritize NSHE’s budget rather than letting the state demand budget cuts or fee increases to cover budget shortfalls. Catarata also promised to support collective bargaining for NSHE professional employees, and stated he supports removing the Board of Regents from the state constitution. In the early stages of his campaign Catarata stated he was “the only candidate advocating for free community college by 2025,” but he has not campaigned on this since  early April and it is no longer mentioned on his website or in his NFA questionnaire answers.  He is endorsed by NSEA, Make the Road Nevada, and IBEW 357, and all his campaign contributions have been from individuals. We think having an organizer and current student on the Board of Regents would be beneficial.

Heather Brown is a UNLV graduate who has spent the bulk of her career working in Democratic party organizations, both for candidates and for policy—examples include Young Democrats of America, The Climate Reality Project, and Hillary for America. Now, Brown has funded her own Las Vegas-based 501(c)3 StartUp Vegas, whose mission is “to boost the startup culture and create an environment of entrepreneurship.” Brown’s campaign is focused on supporting students, the budget, and improving enrollment retention. However, her answers in the questionnaire are vague, particularly about the budget–she focuses more on “trimming the fat” than advocating for more money from the legislature. Her strongest answers are about reforming the poor reputation and internal culture of the Board of Regents. Brown has stated she supports collective bargaining for NSHE professional employees, and that she prefers reforming the Board of Regents rather than removing it from the constitution but would respect the will of the voters if that occurs. Brown is endorsed by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, as well as many local unions: Culinary 226, CCEA, AFL-CIO (Nevada state and Southern Nevada regional councils), SNBTU, IATSE 720, and Plumbers Pipefitters & Service Professionals 525. However, she has reported no campaign contributions.

Jeanine Dakduk declined to respond to NFA’s candidate questionnaire beyond her education history, stating “I know my approach to this campaign is not traditional. I have and will continue to put out information publically [sic] about my experience, knowledge, and approach to governance. I completed the general information of the NFA questionnaire, but I will be declining to answer the remaining questions at this time.” However, she sent a follow-up response to NFA which can be found at the bottom of the questionnaire, where she states “tuition increases are historically inevitable” and “how can a candidate for Regent claim to be impartial if they seek endorsements that ingratiate themselves with certain groups?” Considering NFA is the union of academic faculty at NSHE, this dismissal does not portend well for how Dakduk would respect the employees of the Board she wishes to serve on. Dakduk is endorsed by Nevada Republican Club; she pledges to not accept endorsements or contributions (her only contribution is $200 from herself), and will only serve one term.

Brandin S. Manwill did not respond to NFA’s candidate questionnaire, does not appear to have a website, and has not filed any financial disclosures with the Secretary of State.

Most of the candidate information comes from the Nevada Faculty Alliance (NFA) candidate questionnaires. The incumbent in this race has termed out.

Hieu Le is a 25 year old candidate and NSHE graduate and grad student who has worked in the state legislature. Though his platform is a bit unfocused, his commitment to higher education affordability and accessibility are clear. He supports collective bargaining for NSHE professional employees and opposes guns on campuses. His student-centered focus zones in on developing and advancing diverse leaders and increasing student engagement with the higher education system. He has organized with Mi Familia Vota, campaigned for Bernie Sanders, and works for Clark County Safekey. He has endorsements from Young AAPI Dems, Nevada AFL-CIO, Southern NV Central Labor Council, and Ironworkers Locals  416 and 433. he clearly wants to do good for the state of Nevada while keeping students and affordable college on the top of his priority list. Because of his great potential and his close proximity to the needs and perspectives of young Nevadans, we recommend Le.

Susan Brager is a realtor, former CCSD trustee (1994-2006) and former Clark County Commissioner (2006-2018) with seemingly no ties to higher education. She has some good positions including  opposing guns on campus  and supporting collective bargaining for professional employees, free community college, increased affordability, and higher pay and improved benefits for faculty/staff/admin. She wants to “end the meddling” that has plagued the system and let the administrators of the NSHE schools  do their jobs.  She supports revising the funding formula rather than increasing tuition/fees to raise revenue and breaking up NSHE into separate university and  community college systems.

M.J. Ivy is a pastor who has his own public relations/communications firm and is a current grad student in public policy at UNLV.  Though he supports collective bargaining for professional employees, he qualifies that by urging professional employees to also  support a regular salary for the Regents. Part of CCSD’s Anti-Racism Task Force, his NSHE focus is on recruiting more BIPOC professors and administrators–especially Black faculty from HBCUs–and increasing the graduation rate among BIPOC students. He would support a “slight” increase in tuition and opposes guns on campus. He wants increased NSHE transparency,  to pursue more federal money and an NSHE Chancellor who is from Nevada.

Aury Nagy is a neurosurgeon and managing partner at Nevada Brain and Spine Care. He has served on county, state and executive  level boards including as current VP of Nevada Board of Medical Examiners, the Gov’s Workforce Board for Healthcare, and the UMCSN Medical Executive Committee. He won’t take a fixed position on a few things. For example, he maintains no opinion on collective bargaining among professional employees but thinks NSHE employees should not be prevented from organizing if they choose to? He’s opposed to guns on campus except for survivors of violence who might feel safer with one? He supports academic freedom but cautions University presidents against “allowing” faculty to include “controversial” topics like CRT in courses outside of a specialty? Aside from a little confusion there, his biggest priority is to improve health care in NV by improving health care education and foster growth in the sciences to support industry.  In his NFA questionnaire we’re a little  concerned about overreach when he  describes his desire to “supervise” the two medical schools and oversee DRI. While he wants to increase faculty pay and obtain much more federal funding for higher ed, his narrow focus on health and science education leaves us wanting and his focus on industry leaves a lot of us out.

David “Coach” Crete is a Republican realtor who doesn’t support collective bargaining for professional employees, supports concealed-carry on campus, would support raising student tuition/fees to generate revenue, and won’t pledge to uphold the tenets of academic freedom and tenure. He’s also endorsed by Nevada Republican Club. Enough said!

District 8 represents multiple rural counties and northern Clark County.  The current Regent is not seeking reelection.

Jonathan Baltera is one of two CCSD employees running for Regent. Currently a choir teacher, he was involved in UNLV as a graduate assistant, teacher, and with the university’s student association for a number of years. He’s basing his campaign on transparency and for the board to present a ‘united front’ to solve problems.  He does not appear to have a campaign website with more information, and has no expenses or contributions to report.

John Patrick Rice has worked in the higher education system for nearly 30 years and is faculty at Great Basin College (GBC). Similar to the other candidates, John calls for full and proper funding for the U of NV system, but promises the City of Elko’s model of community-wide broadband will make GBC Elko the center of distance education learning in Nevada.  Asked in the NFA questionnaire about possibility of raising tuition he pivots,

An amazing un-tapped resource lies in the distribution of mining royalties in Nevada. […] . The formulas for mining royalty payments are antiquated, and the resource needs to be tapped to supplement higher education.

Rice has raised several thousands of dollars, with no expenses reported.

Michelee “Shelly” Crawford  is currently a CCSD principal who has held numerous positions in classrooms and schools dating back about twenty years.  Shelly is a member of the Northern NV National guard and has earned CCEA’s endorsement for Regent. Shelly is running to re-legitimize the institution by extending programs to create opportunity for rural and urban students with her ability to bridge funding and opportunity gaps. Unfortunately, she doesn’t rule out the possibility of raising fees and tuition while admitting that low income students are most likely to be pushed out – likely the same rural and urban students she seeks to create opportunity for. Unfortunately, we know you can’t have both.

The other candidates are either endorsed by Republican groups, oppose teaching “controversial” topics like Critical Race Theory in college settings, or they have uninspiring responses.

John Moran has been the Regent in this district since 2016. He was among the Regents who supported a vaccine mandate for college students on campus. He did not answer the Nevada Faculty Alliance (NFA) candidate questionnaire. Bizarrely, he loaned his campaign the very specific amount of $150,223.90, but reported no other donations or expenses. He did raise nearly a quarter million dollars when he ran in 2016, so it’s odd to think that he’d need to give himself a loan.

Jennifer M. Bandiero is a Republican who says she wants to “restore conservative ideals in Nevada’s Higher Education system”. She reported $100 in contributions.

Stephanie Goodman owns an advertising company and was the Chief of Staff for former Mayor Oscar Goodman. She is endorsed by the Nevada Republican Club. She reported no contributions or expenses.

Commissioner Tick Segerblom has been in Nevada politics for a long time. He’s probably most famous for being very supportive of the cannabis industry (both as a consumer and a policy maker). Commissioner Segerblom regularly focuses on conservation and enhancing residents’ quality of life, and he’s one of the politicians that have been most willing to sit and talk with us about issues. However, one of his policy positions includes increasing police presence in the community. We’re going to keep working with Commissioner Segerblom to see if we can convince him that that money would be better spent on addressing homelessness and poverty.

His financial filings showed donations from political PACs, a few casinos, and one property management group.

We couldn’t find any notable information on Jacob “Jake” Macias.

Choosing the person who will be the top cop in the district is not always an easy task, but Osvaldo “Ozzie” Fumo is the better candidate by far. He’s been a criminal defense attorney for over 25 years and represented Assembly District 21 from 2016-2020, during which time he sponsored bills to abolish the death penalty, end cash bail, slash private prisons, and prohibit law enforcement from holding immigrants for ICE. If elected, he has promised to direct his department to stop seeking death penalty sentences, stop prosecuting sex workers, and stop prosecuting children as adults. His rhetoric all points to a shift away from criminalizing the poor and suffering, and instead moving attention to holding the powerful and harmful accountable. Ozzie has raised nearly all of his funds from individual donors, and he has several endorsements from union and community organizations.

On the other hand, the incumbent Steve Wolfson is so conservative that we sometimes forget that he’s technically a Democrat. He’s been the District Attorney since 2012, so if you have a loved one who has been incarcerated for bullsh** reasons then Wolfson’s leadership likely contributed.

He has a massive amount of money from big corporations and casinos that would love to see more poor people thrown in jail. If elected, Wolfson will continue to use the powerful DA’s office to harm our communities.

We don’t have a horse in this race.

Debbie Conway has been the County Recorder for 15 years. You can find her goals for the position here. She hasn’t raised much funds so far, but that may be because she still has several thousands of dollars from casinos and Board of Realtors PAC from her run in 2018.

Hunter Cain is an Army vet who worked for Congresswoman Dina Titus from 2014-2019. He holds socially progressive positions, but it’s hard to say that he would be suitable for an administrative position that’s responsible for record keeping. You can find his website here. He has few donations and expenses.

J. “Ken” Diaz is the Assistant County Treasurer and has the endorsements of multiple trade unions. He seems to have all of the experience that you’d hope for in a Treasurer. He is self-funded.

Gary Hosea, a retired veteran, has run twice for a County Commission seat (once as a Republican). He has no expenses or contributions, and we found no website for him.

We found no campaign information for Jaeden Cain, and they have no contributions or expenses.

Same story for Kenneth “Sully” O’Sullivan.

The Clark County Public Administrator manages estates of those in court or those deceased.

The current Public Administrator, Robert Telles, has been accused of creating or fueling a hostile work environment. This has only gotten worse since a video recently surfaced of him in the backseat of a car with a staff he’s allegedly in an inappropriate relationship with. Addressing this unhealthy workplace culture is what candidate

Rita Reid says this is what inspired her to run. She’s worked at the Public Administrator’s office for 15 years, and appears to have the support of the others in the office. She doesn’t identify herself as a politician, which is good since the position should be apolitical. She comes across as someone who genuinely wants to improve her workplace and provide the community with quality services. Her campaign is self-funded. We like Rita.

Also running is Caroline Escobar, who we found no campaign information for. Her financial disclosure document lists no employment, and she reported no contributions or expenses.

We lean towards Brenda Zamora, who is running to provide more services for children with Individualized Education Plans. She is endorsed by PLAN Action and Culinary Union.

The incumbent is Irene Cepeda, who was the only incumbent endorsed by CCEA. Cepeda initially voted to terminate Superintendent Jesus Jara, but then reversed her decision.

The three top contenders in this race are an incumbent who has a flair for the dramatic and sometimes uses offensive language, an old establishment Dem, and an up-and-coming establishment Dem.

Danielle Ford is the current incumbent. She speaks out against the privatization of schools, and opposes politically connected trustee candidates with wealthy donors. She is endorsed by PLAN Action. She voted to terminate Superintendent Jara.

Besides the incumbent, the name you’re likely to recognize is that of Irene Bustamante Adams. She was elected to the assembly in 2010 and held office from  2011 to 2017. In 2017, she served as Speaker Pro Tempore. With just under a decade in the assembly and the fact that she’s running for school board you think she’s sponsored an education bill or two. Unfortunately, we find no record of her showing an interest in the subject before. Professionally, outside of the assembly, she’s a Business Consultant who’s held positions with multiple Chambers of Commerce, and is the current Deputy Director & Chief Strategy Officer for Workforce Connections, Southern Nevada’s Local Workforce Development Board. She says she would retain Superintendent Jara. She is endorsed by the Clark County Education Association (CCEA).

Kali Fox Miller is an Emerge graduate and current President Elect of the Nevada PTA. She is an  attorney with experience in the “financial tech industry” and regulatory compliance who served as a Deputy Attorney General. Her website and social media particularly emphasize teacher retention, literacy, school safety, and rigorous academics (including addressing chronic absenteeism without punishing parents or children). She has called for more federal investment in school infrastructure and in 2020 posted an article on Facebook about rethinking police in schools. But we’ve seen no such activity or focus lately.  She is a Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense candidate and also has endorsements  from the Giovanni Melton Foundation, Vegas Chamber, Local 525 Plumbers/Pipefitters/Service Technicians, and is considered a strong education supporter by the Nevada Democratic Education Caucus. Nonetheless, we don’t see anything new or earth-shattering in this candidate.

Linda Cavazos is the current incumbent who previously worked as a teacher and is currently a part-time therapist. She is endorsed by PLAN Action and Culinary Union.  The other candidates in this race are either bad (outsourcing sports to private orgs, adding cameras to classrooms, “school choice”), very bad (“Homosexuals can’t procreate. This goes against our constitution.”), or we couldn’t find information about them, leading us to recommend Linda Cavazos.

None of these candidates are going to make your life better.

Stan Hyt, who calls himself a patriot, conservative and constitutionalist, is probably the worst.

Kevin McMahill, who is the current leader in the race, says in this video (30 second mark) to reelect Judge Agnes Botelho because “she’ll keep these people in jail instead of letting them all out.” He later endorses the awful DA Steve Wolfson in the same video. McMahill also has allegations of harassing a woman that he stopped early in his career, telling her to expose herself to him before he returned her property.

Tom Roberts was an Assemblyman who was one of the few Republicans to support the bill to decriminalize traffic and vote for the mining tax, which is surprising since he received money from Nevada Gold Mines that year.  But he also attended this extraordinarily racist event earlier this year, and last week he was outed as one of 7 Nevada Republicans who are members of far-right Facebook groups—in his case, anti-CRT/pro-school choice with a dash of COVID denialism.

The entire race is a competition to see who can be the most conservative. The incumbent is Victoria Seaman, who is well-funded by corporations, including Home Building Industry PAC and Las Vegas Police Protective Association PAC. She has more police endorsements than we care to count.

We tried to assess the candidates to see who was least bad, and we still couldn’t find a viable option.

The race for the termed-out Councilman’s seat is one to watch. With Stavros Anthony running for lieutenant governor, there’s no shortage of conservatives vying for his seat. Technically, this is a non-partisan race, but the candidates’ platforms speak volumes. We don’t recommend voting for anyone in this race.

Francis Allen-Palenske, a former Republican, is a two-term Assemblywoman wanting to represent Las Vegas after voters opted to not give her a third term. Running on a platform of Public Safety and Economic Development (read: more cops and pricing working people out of Las Vegas), she must hope to capture the frustrations of a downwardly mobile Las Vegas middle class to vote for reactionary politics.  Her campaign website provides little to no details about her vision for Las Vegas beyond “pragmatic” platitudes about how she can “work with all sides” aka single handedly sink any progressive legislation and siding with conservatives more often than not, and certainly not sticking up for the working class. She’s taken big developer money from the Home Building Industry PAC, like many others, and the most telling thing on her website is her wearing a Thin Blue Line t-shirt. If the name sounds familiar, it may be because while in office, she was alleged to have stabbed her then-husband with a steak knife.  Charges were dropped one month before the Republican Primary in 2008.

Bob Beers is a former holder of the Ward 4 City Council seat. Maybe you remember the fiasco over the failed Badlands golf course, the subsequent zoning change, and the NV Supreme Court ruling? If so, Bob is extremely proud of it.  He’s been on Developer Yohan Lowies side in wanting to build more sprawl on the site in the face of nimby opposition. Similar to Allen-Palenske, there’s not much of anything of substance on his campaign site; additionally, he’s also very Pro-Cop in believing that like Portland Oregon, the city has “melted down amidst bad government decisions to cripple law enforcement”.  LVMPD has asked for an ~8-10% budget increase in 2022. They are likely to get it, and more.

Additional candidates in this race are Brenda Flank, and Robert J. Plummer. Both cite public safety and economic development and nothing new.

The least harmful pick would be Dr. Nancy Brune. She has a PhD in public policy and is the founder of the Guinn Center, a non-partisan policy research center housed at UNR. Her campaign Twitter account shows that she’s received endorsements from Culinary Union, Sierra Club, IATSE, and other influential groups. Her website shows that she’s going to take a data-driven approach to her governance and will try to expand services for people. She also will be “tough on crime” and very supportive of LVMPD. She has raised a significant amount of money from individuals.

The leading candidate, however, is probably the President of Laborers Local 872, Lou DeSalvio. Right-wing DeSalvio is incredibly pro-cop, has tons of police endorsements, and his donors include a significant number of home builders and apartment complex owners. He’s currently the chairman for the City of Las Vegas planning commission after an appointment from Councilwoman Michelle Fiore. He’s aligned with current Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, and we do not want to see her get more power.

While DeSalvio worships the cops, candidate Ray Spencer literally is a cop who says he will work with Power2Parent, an anti-LGBTQ+ organization.

Paul I. Casey is conservative who attended the Nevada Republican Convention and posted pictures with Adam Laxalt on social media. He has almost no campaign to speak of though, with no donations reported.

David Dillie is the only Democrat running for the seat. He claims that he would be the youngest elected official in Nevada history, if he wins. His website has a few simple policy positions, and implies that he thinks the city controls things that they don’t, like water quality and school funding. He reported almost no monetary donations.

Speaking of not knowing how the city government works, conservative Matt Passalacqua says this on his website: “If elected, I will Lead City Staff during the upcoming 2023 Legislature to pass meaningful legislation to allow for School Choice, more Charter Schools, and analyze how creating smaller school districts in Southern Nevada could benefit our families and children.” He seems to be confusing our state legislature with City Council, who actually meets every other Wednesday year round and has virtually no control over the education system. He followed this up with a big pro-cop platform, and we stopped reading from there.

Luke R. Anderson is a conservative and the author of children’s books. We found no website for his campaign and he has no donations or expenses.

Michelle Romero is a current Henderson Councilwoman who has worked in city government for 25 years. She has a typical political platform that includes pro-police and pro-charter school positions. Her top donors include Home Building Industry PAC, Henderson Police Officers’ Association, and multiple casinos and other predatory industries.

Frank Ficadenti is a conservative investment banker. He frequently retweets pro-Republican and Libertarian propaganda, such as anti-mask nonsense. If he is elected, he will increase the police budget. Ficadenti reported zero donations and zero expenses on his financial filing.

The only thing of substance that we could find on Drew Dison was the very limited and unimpressive information that he provides on his website. His financial filing says he raised only $270 in the first quarter, with no expenses reported. He did not file a financial disclosure document. This does not seem like a serious candidate.

Our preference is Jodi Tyson, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Threesquare.

She says she’s running “to help address the root causes of food insecurity, poverty and inequity.” Her platform is simple but admirable, and contains positions like “prioritizing infill… instead of sprawl”. She has several impressive union endorsements, and most of her donations are from individuals.

The rest of the candidates are either conservative, unserious, or both.

Carrie Cox is a Republican with exactly the kind of Republican platform that you might expect, from worshiping cops to supporting school vouchers. Her major donors include Henderson Police Officers’ Association and Henderson Police Supervisor Association.

Trish Nash is a realtor and typical conservative,  endorsed by Nevada Republican Club and Board of Realtors PAC, with donations from Henderson Police Supervisor Association.

Steve Rice is a commercial and real estate attorney, and is endorsed by Debra March and many unions. His platform focuses on police and charter schools, and typical fiscal conservative lines.

Money from Home Building Industry PAC

Doug Perns and John “Jack” Niland do not seem to be serious candidates, and we found very little information about them.

This race is crowded and competitive.

Pat Spearman has been the State Senator in District 1 since 2012, and unsuccessfully ran for House of Representatives District 4 in 2018. She is a veteran and the first openly lesbian member of Nevada’s legislature. She sponsored and supported some impressive legislation during her tenure, including “banning the box”, restricting the state’s use of private prisons, protecting public lands, and a Constitutional amendment that would have set the minimum wage to $14 by now. She’s even shown support for Medicare for All in the past. Her current platform keeps up with any other progressive’s. We acknowledge that she was endorsed by a police association, but she did not emphasize this throughout her campaign. She also voted in favor of the stop-and-frisk bill and, like every other candidate in the race, she supports expanding police connection in communities. But when the candidates were asked at a forum about what they would look for in a police chief, she was the only one to say that she would emphasize a zero tolerance for police brutality.

Her financial statements from 2022 show donations from unions, leadership PACs, private utility companies, and a few casinos, but also more small dollar donations than any other candidate in the race. 2021 was similar, but also includes a bit from Home Building Industry PAC.

This is the only race where we are recommending someone who received a donation from the Home Building Industry PAC because 1) the amount represents 1% of her total funding, and 2) there are a few dangerous candidates here that stand a chance of beating Spearman.

The leader in the race, at least financially, is North Las Vegas Councilmember Pamela Goynes-Brown. She is one of the two candidates that is endorsed by Nevada Republican Club. She has lots of unfavorable donors, but notable ones include a law firm that handles litigation for government relations & land use, North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, and real estate developers. She supports the privatization of public schools.

Nathan Atkins is the other candidate endorsed by Nevada Republican Club. He is a corporate-business type who is heavily focused on public-private partnerships (which usually means giving professional sports teams and tech billionaires massive kickbacks just for them to underdeliver). Interestingly, he has raised and spent very little.

Robert “Twixx” Taylor is probably the second-best choice in this race. He’s the owner of multiple small businesses, primarily barbershops, and is a barber himself. His website is covered in the word “community”, which is clearly important to him. He is also very business-minded, saying things like “We need to have identity…so people will buy more homes”.  His donations are almost entirely from individuals, showing his credibility as a community member. However, he has spent more than double what he has raised, so his financial documents literally don’t add up.

Laura Perkins is currently on the Board of Regents. Her campaign seems to be having difficulty building any momentum. LVDSA members have seen her at multiple political events, but she didn’t say anything memorable about her positions in any instance, and her website is very vague. She allegedly raised no money in the first quarter of 2022.

Gary Bouchard is anti-union, was charged with stalking Goynes-Brown, and is not to be taken seriously.

Last summer, Jesse Addison III reached out to ask us if we’d run his campaign, seemingly without knowing anything about our organization. We provided him with our very specific endorsement criteria and instructions, but he became incredibly frustrated that our process required him to have the support of at least five other LVDSA members. He said this was too difficult, tried to negotiate that number down, then sent us an incredibly long and strongly worded email explaining how we wasted his precious time with an unclear process. Don’t worry though, he found a home with the Libertarian Party.

The incumbent is Isaac E. Barron. He has a significant amount of endorsements from unions, including the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association. His website says he wants to “diversify NLV Police” by recruiting youth. His accomplishments during his tenure are primarily related to the development of parks, workforce education centers, and transportation infrastructure.

He has about $100,000 in funding, with most of it coming from businesses and property management companies. He received $2,500 from North Las Vegas Police Officers’ Association in 2020.

Republican Lance Robert Eliason is the son of the previous Councilmember in this seat. We couldn’t find a campaign website for him, but he does have a Facebook page with a few thin blue line posts. He has few donations, which are primarily from individuals.

This seat is currently held by conservative Scott Black. He’s the pick of the Nevada Republican Club and North Las Vegas Police Department. His top donors include the Home Building Industry PAC and North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, but he gets plenty of money from other businesses and lobbyists.

The antithesis of Scott Black is Jovan Jackson. Jackson was previously incarcerated after a substance abuse problem, and he now dedicates his life to improving conditions for the incarcerated and helping others with addiction and mental health struggles. Jackson is very involved in his community and is a senior board member of Mass Liberation Project. He has attended multiple forums and events throughout his campaign to discuss his plans to help those suffering from poverty, addiction, and mental health challenges. Contributions to his campaign have primarily been in the form of in-kind services.

The third candidate is Mario Mitchell. We had a hard time finding information about his campaign, and he did not attend any of the forums that the authors of this guide attended. We did find multiple venture capital sites that have bios of him. Almost all of his funding is from a single donor.

Clark County Family Court Judge Rhonda Forsberg. Forsberg was appointed to the position in 2019, then ran for election for that seat in 2020 and won. You can view her candidate questionnaire for that race here, where she discusses some of her more memorable cases.

She is endorsed by the Clark County Prosecutors Association. She has raised less than $200 this cycle, which is odd since she was able to raise thousands of dollars for her 2020 election.

Her opponent is Chief Deputy Public Defender Deborah Westbrook. Her website and social media highlights that she has “spent the last two decades defending my clients and the Constitution.” While Westbrook has been described as “incredibly dedicated and hardworking” by attorneys that we trust, she also has about a dozen police association endorsements, which disqualifies her for our recommendation. You can view her financial filing here, which shows that she’s raised an incredible quarter of a million dollars.

While it can be difficult to find information of substance on judicial candidates, here’s what we know:

Angela Dows has worked as both a prosecution and defense attorney for the last fifteen years. She discusses how her own hearing impairment helps her keep in mind the needs of those with disabilities in the courtroom. She also says that she wants to make courtrooms more accessible by using more virtual services. Dows campaign is self-funded.

Kelly Giordani is a criminal prosecutor for the City of Las Vegas.  She has the endorsement of nearly every police association in the valley (even Elko County, for some reason). She discusses more of her experience here. Her financial supporters include a long list of prosecutors, including Steve Wolfson.

We want more defense attorneys sitting on the bench, so our preference is Angela Dows.

While it can be difficult to find information of substance on judicial candidates, here’s what we know:

Judge Chris Lee currently holds the seat, and has exercised punishing judgements to the poorest of defendants. Lee has allegedly raised and spent nothing so far, but his previous donors have included a long list of prosecutors and the North Las Vegas Police Supervisors Association.

Challenger Jonathan MacArthur describes himself as a progressive and social justice activist, and he has a running list of union endorsements. His donations come primarily from individuals and law offices (which is very common in judicial races).

While it can be difficult to find information of substance on judicial candidates, here’s what we know:

Judge Jason Gunnell is endorsed by Mayor John Lee and about a dozen police associations. At a candidate forum, he used his opening statement to apologize for sending out campaign mail that was considered racist and insensitive (we were unable to find the mailer). The residents at the forum, almost entirely people of color, questioned how Gunnell could be trusted to be unbiased in his courtroom. Over the nearly two hour forum, he did not give a satisfying answer. One of Gunnell’s top donors is the NLV Police Officers Association.

Our experience with defense attorney Courtney Ketter has always been positive. Ketter leads with compassion, and frequently talks about the inequities that marginalized communities face each day. Ketter has a history of engaging directly with the community, from coaching youth sports to helping us distribute items to our unhoused neighbors at Sunday Solidarity. Ketter says that he wants to utilize the Specialty Court systems to decrease incarceration rates and provide the material support that people really need. His endorsements include unions and progressive community orgs. All of his donations appear to be from individuals, not corporations or interest groups. You can read more about Ketter here.

You can find details of the race here, but here’s a summary:

Augusta Massey is a civil attorney, as well as an investor and entrepreneur. Her website talks about her work in business and consulting as much as it does her legal experience. She is the co-founder of African Diaspora of Las Vegas. You can see her donors here. She’s not our dream candidate, but after researching her competition we think she’s the best option in this race.

Tracy Hibbetts is the only public defender in the race. Her husband, Brian Hibbetts, is a former LVMPD Sgt. and current GOP candidate for Assembly District 13 and is running on a tough-on-crime platform. Her campaign website features videos of support from cops, prosecutors, and establishment Dem Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen. Her campaign has been heavily self-funded with support from these donors.

Jessica Goodey is a personal injury attorney that is endorsed by the Clark County Prosecutors Association, which is a good reason to not consider her. She has raised the most funds, which you can view here.

William Gonzalez is a former Family Court judge who ran for re-election and lost, and then ran for another judicial seat and lost. He has an error rate of 36.36% out of 48 cases appealed. Interestingly, he has zero donations from individuals and instead has donations from several PACs.

This race makes us feel like the Larry David gif. You can find details of the race here, but here’s a summary:

We were warned by our attorney comrades that Max Berkley would likely be lifted by his parents and, sure enough, he is literally endorsed by his mother, former U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley. She is also his top donor, capping out at the legal limit of $10,000. He has said that he will try not to think like a defender anymore and instead will be a “trier of fact”, which is a bizarre and relatively questionable thing for a judicial candidate to say. He also had to file his first quarter financial reports four times because of errors. Although you may have to bite the bullet and vote for Berkley when you read about the others.

Amy Wilson has experience as both a prosecutor and defense attorney. She volunteers as a Pro Bono Attorney with the Children’s Attorney Project through Legal Aid of Southern Nevada, which provides direct representation for children who are in Foster Care under the jurisdiction of the Family Court. She also worked to help property management companies evict tenants. You can take a look at her donors here.

Dena Rinetti is a prosecutor who has raised no money and has no campaign website. She ran for the bench in Dept. 24 in 2020 and lost, but you can read a questionnaire that she did for that race here. She is endorsed by the Clark County Prosecutors Association, which is a good reason to not consider her.

Reading this article should make it apparent why we support Shana Brouwers, but here’s a summary:

Although Bonaventure seems like a fair and reasonable judge, Shana Brouwers impresses us more. She is a chief public defender for Clark County, she doesn’t want to ask for voters for donations, she wants to see the death penalty abolished, and she wants to bring empathy to the courtroom. She reminds us of another judge we love.

Danielle Pieper Chio is a prosecutor whose website features a picture of her and Steve Wolfson. She has over a dozen endorsements from police associations. She’s loaned herself over $45,000 for this race, which is an unusually high amount. We can’t imagine that she’d be anything but harmful as a judge.

You can find details of the race here, but here’s a summary:

Cybill Dotson currently holds the position after being appointed in 2021. She has a significant amount of philanthropic and community work listed on her website. She is endorsed by multiple unions and PLAN Action. You can view her donors here.

Noreen Demonte is a prosecutor, the preferred pick of the Clark County Prosecutors Association, is endorsed by a handful of police associations, and says she “has been working with the LVMPD Repeat Offender Program to identify career criminals and bring them to justice.” Repeat offenders are often unhoused, facing mental health and addiction, impoverished, and people of color.

Vincent Ginn is a private defense attorney that is running for a judicial seat for the fifth time, and he generally comes across like a pile of garbage. He said he’s not raising money because “the whole women empowerment thing that’s going on right now. If I get kicked out of the race just based on my gender, there’s no point in raising all this money because it’s just going to sit in an account that I can’t touch anyway. It is my belief, and only my belief, that especially this last election and the election before that, if you were of the female gender, that you would pretty much get more votes than if you were a male.” But don’t worry, he follows it with “And I’m not trying to be sexist.” He also complained that the decriminalization of traffic tickets and bail reform has lost him income and clients.

Mark Karris is a prosecutor and civil attorney. His sole endorsement is from the Nevada Republican Club. His only reported contribution was a billboard that was donated to his campaign. We found no other information on this candidate.

You can find details of the race here, but here’s a summary:

Agnes Botelho is a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office. Her website is loaded with police endorsements and pictures of her with cops, including Sheriff and GOP gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo (booo). In her judicial selection application for a vacant seat last year, she talks about a time when she was prosecuting someone in 2013 for allegedly sexually assaulting two young girls. She found that there was evidence that cleared the defendant of guilt, and then describes how she was hesitant to drop the charges because she feared backlash from her bosses at the District Attorney’s office. Two things haven’t changed since then: Steve Wolfson is still the DA, and she still works for him. You can see her donors here, which includes DA Steve Wolfson (booo).

Vincent Romeo holds far-right views, including saying that “this transgender madness must be stopped… you cannot transition from one to the other.” He primarily helps commercial property owners negotiate out of bankruptcy. He’s garbage.

And now for the palate cleanser: Nadia Wood is a Chief Deputy Public Defender who doesn’t think “that locking everybody up is a solution for our community”. She is endorsed by a significant number of unions and community organizations. She has raised an impressive amount of money for this race. She seems to get along with people from across the political spectrum, so we don’t expect anything radical from her but she is likely the best option in this race.

Justin Zarcone is a civil trial attorney who previously worked on commercial litigation and insurance defense. He has not received donations. It was difficult to find additional information on him.