LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — There were cheers, chants, American flags and oh so many photos.
Spring in an even-numbered year means only one thing in Nevada: the start of the political season that will last until about a week after the Nov. 3 election.
Monday's first day of filing saw scores of people become candidates, from longtime incumbents to brand new challengers. They filed at City Halls, the Secretary of State's offices, and with county registrars across Nevada.
Steve Sebelius hears from candidates about how they hope to make a difference for Nevadans, if elected:
Offices from Congress to governor, state Legislature to local government are up for grabs. (There is no presidential or U.S. Senate contest in Nevada this year.)
At the Clark County Government Center, candidates waited in line for an open desk in the filing center, paying their fees and signing paperwork to put their names on the ballot.
Among them: District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who has won three elections but has served for 14 years after being appointed to the job back in 2012. (There are no term limits for county offices such as sheriff or district attorney.)
Asked if he'd ever tire of the job, Wolfson said he's still got things left to do.
"I don't know yet. I still want to contribute," he said. "There's some unchecked work that still needs to be completed, so I'm looking forward — if the citizens of this county still have the confidence in me to re-elect me again — to work on some current initiatives and some future initiatives."
Wolfson said public safety would be his top priority in his next term.
"I'm very pleased to say that crime is down in Clark County, thanks to all the law-enforcement partners," he said. "I think that there's a tendency to think that crime is on the rise or that crime is out of control. That's not the case, because crime is down. I think that people generally feel pretty safe."
The Republican and Democratic Assembly caucuses turned out most of their members for first-day photos and filing. That included Assemblywoman Shea Backus, a Democrat who represents Las Vegas.
Backus — who was first elected in 2018, defeated for re-election in 2020 but came back to win in 2022 and 2024 — says she keeps running because of the impact that she has on people's lives.
She said she met an ex-felon on the campaign trail whose voting rights had been restored because of a bill she worked on in the Assembly.
"And even though the gentleman wasn't going to vote for the same person I was going to vote for for president, I realized my vote and the support of a bill that I did on the floor made a difference in someone's life," Backus recalled. "And that really just made a huge difference, and I was like, 'I'm going to do this again.' It's amazing to have this opportunity to serve the public."
But Backus represents Assembly District 37, a swing district, albeit one that's become safer after the 2021 redistricting. This time around, she'll face at least one opponent, Jill Douglass, the new chairwoman of the Clark County Republican Party.
The two women — who've known each other for years — shared a hug outside the filing room, even as they prepared to run against each other.
Douglass said being a candidate and being a party chair increases her investment in the process.
"Actually, I think it even gives me more ownership to make sure that the processes are taking place, that the voter registration is taking place, that the precinct level operation is working," she said. "I'm more invested than ever."
Douglass said her top priority would be to enact school choice legislation if elected, while Backus said she was focused "on making life a little easier for Nevadans," especially addressing the costs of housing, insurance and other goods.
Assemblyman Greg Hafen II, R-Nye County, who filed his papers at the Secretary of State's office but later joined caucus members at the government center, said that despite being in the minority in the Assembly, he's learned to pass bipartisan bills.
"The process has gotten better," he said. "We've learned to move the process, to move things to the floor, and really work, try to figure out how to work across the aisle," he said.
Hafen credited Gov. Joe Lombardo for forcing more bipartisan compromise. Lombardo has set the all-time record for the number of vetoes issued by a Nevada governor.
Hafen said if he could accomplish only one thing, it would be to ensure that all ballots are in and counted by Election Day. Currently, mail ballots postmarked on Election Day can be received up to four days later and still counted, which means final unofficial results aren't known until about a week after Election Day.
But if the mail ballot deadline was moved up, those ballots could be counted and results released on Election Day, or at least by the following morning, he said.
(Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has said the vast majority of votes are in and most are counted on Election Day, although late-arriving ballots have been known to change the outcome of some races.)
Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy, R-Clark County, ran unopposed in 2024, but drew an opponent this year. She said she keeps returning to Carson City because she can make a difference.
"I think I just come to the conclusion for myself that we need good people there. I feel I've been able to pass some really good legislation, in my time there, good bipartisan legislation," she said. "I think we need people that have experience in the Legislature, because especially in the Assembly, seats turn over a lot and you lose the institutional knowledge."
In other filings on Monday:
- Two people filed to challenge Aguilar as secretary of state, including former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, a Republican from Reno. Angle famously lost a race for U.S. Senate against the late Harry Reid in 2010. Angle was joined in the race by Keenan Socorro, also a Republican.
- Two Republicans and two Democrats filed to represent Clark County Commission District F, replacing Justin Jones, who decided not to seek re-election. Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama, R-Clark County and businessman Albert Mack are seeking the Republican nomination, while Lenna Hovanessian and Sebastian Crawford signed up under the Democratic banner.
- Five people filed to challenge incumbent Rep. Dina Titus in Congressional District 1: Republicans Jim Blockey, Marie Arnold and state Sen. Carrie Buck, R-Clark County. Democrat Gabriel Cornejo and Bobby Khan, who listed no political party, also filed.
- Three Republicans filed in the Republican primary for governor against incumbent Joe Lombardo: Matthew Winterhawk, Jose Zelaya and Irina Hansen.
- On the Democratic side, Attorney General Aaron Ford's campaign said he'd filed his paperwork to challenge Lombardo. Ford is expected to face a challenge from Washoe County Commission Chairwoman Alexis Hill.
