LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — With local officials across Nevada certifying the results of the June 11 primary this week, Nevada voters are looking to the general election in November.
The results of that election will be critical in determining who becomes president, who controls the U.S. Senate and House, and the partisan makeup of the 2025 legislature in Carson City.
Here's a roundup of the races we'll be following on the path to November.
Federal races
1. U.S. Senate: Incumbent freshman Democrat U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen faces her first re-election since winning office in 2018. Rosen defeated then-incumbent U.S. Sen. Dean Heller 50% to 45% six years ago, winning Clark and Washoe counties.
This time, Rosen faces former U.S. Army Capt. Sam Brown, who was badly wounded in Afghanistan in 2008. Brown ran unsuccessfully for state office in Texas in 2014 and for U.S. Senate here in Nevada in 2022. He's been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
So far, the race is shaping up to be about the economy, immigration and abortion rights, with both candidates trying to paint the other as extreme and captive to the fringes of their respective parties.
2. Congressional District 1: The dean of Nevada's congressional delegation, Rep. Dina Titus, is in a rematch with her 2022 foe, former U.S. Army Col. Mark Robertson. In that 2022 matchup, Titus defeated Robertson 51% to 46%.
Titus, a former longtime state Senate minority leader, taught political science at UNLV for decades. She was first elected to Congress from the 3rd Congressional District in 2008, served a single term before losing the seat, but returned to represent the first district in 2012.
Robertson is a so-called "mustang," having enlisted as a private and earning an officer's commission before retiring as a full colonel, having commanded a company and a battalion. He's also worked as a certified financial planner in Nevada.
The district currently has a 7.8-percentage-point registration advantage for Democrats.
3. Congressional District 3: Incumbent Democrat Rep. Susie Lee is running for a fourth term in the seat she first won in 2018. Lee represents the closest of Nevada's congressional districts, with a small 3.7-point advantage for Democrats.
This time, Lee faces Drew Johnson, who came within 336 votes of defeating Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones in 2022.
Lee, a philanthropist, has worked to establish a reputation as a centrist, joining the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. The Lugar Center at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University named her the seventh most bipartisan member of Congress this year.
Johnson has worked at conservative think tanks including the Beacon Center of Tennessee, which he founded, and the National Center for Public Policy Research. His columns targeting government waste have appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
4. Fourth Congressional District: Incumbent Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford has represented the 4th District on and off since it was created in 2012. He served a single term, lost his first bid for re-election, but returned to the seat in 2018 and has represented it ever since.
Horsford has earned a national profile after being named chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2022.
Horsford will face former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, a Democrat-turned-Republican best known for turning that city around when it was in danger of insolvency. Lee is also a former Nevada Assembly member and state senator. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in the Republican primary in 2022, placing third in a field of 16 candidates.
The district currently has a Democratic advantage of 8.1 percentage points. While the First and Third Districts are contained entirely within Clark County, the Fourth takes in parts of Clark along with Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda and Mineral counties.
Local races
5. Las Vegas Mayor: After 25 years of Goodmans as mayor — first Oscar from 1999 to 2011, then his wife Carolyn from 2011 to the present — a new mayor will be taking over this year.
Former U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley and incumbent Councilwoman Victoria Seaman emerged from a crowded primary field of 14 candidates to advance to the November runoff. (Another member, Ward 5 Councilman Cedric Crear, also ran and will leave city government after his term expires this year.)
Berkley represented the First Congressional District for more than a decade, from 1998 to 2012, when she ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate. Most recently, she was senior vice president at the Touro University medical school in Henderson.
Seaman served a single term in the Nevada Assembly from 2014 to 2016, when she ran unsuccessfully for state Senate. She was appointed to the Las Vegas City Council in 2019, and elected to a full term in 2021.
Seaman has been an advocate for settling litigation related to the defunct Badlands golf course, which has seen the city repeatedly lose court battles over development on the site. Judgments have run into the millions thus far.
In the primary, Berkley came out on top, winning 35.7% to Seaman's 28.9%.
6. Clark County Commission, District C: This seat, left open after Commissioner Ross Miller opted not to seek re-election, is the closest in voter registration of all the districts; there are fewer than 4,000 more active registered Democrats than Republicans.
The Republican nominee is April Becker, an attorney who ran against state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro in 2020, losing by just 631 votes in the general. In 2022, Becker won the Republican primary for the 3rd Congressional District but lost to Susie Lee in the general election.
The Democratic nominee is Shannon Bilbray Axelrod, a four-term assemblywoman and daughter of the late Congressman Jim Bilbray. In Carson City, Bilbray Axelrod served as chair of the Education Committee.
7. Las Vegas City Council, Ward 5: This race pits two Assembly members against each other in a bid to replace the outgoing Crear and represent the historic West Las Vegas.
Assemblyman Cameron "C.H." Miller was first elected in 2020 and was the assistant majority leader in the 2023 session. His opponent, Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, was also elected in 2020 and served on the city's Community Development Recommending Board in 2019.
Nevada Legislature
Legislative races have taken on new urgency for Republicans this cycle, as first term Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo works to prevent Democrats from getting a two-thirds supermajority in both houses. He vetoed 75 bills during and after the 2023 session, but if Democrats reach two-thirds, they could override that veto.
As a result, Lombardo has recruited and endorsed a slate of candidates in both the Senate and Assembly to block Democratic ambitions. Although most seats in the Legislature have lopsided voter registration favoring either Democrats or Republicans, some races are in closer districts.
8. Senate District 5: This Henderson area seat sees incumbent Republican Carrie Buck running for a second term. (She unsuccessfully sought the seat under an old redistricting map in 2016.)
Beck is president of The Pinecrest Foundation, a group that supports education, especially charter schools. She was the assistant minority leader during the 2023 Legislature.
Democrats have nominated Jennifer Atlas for the seat. She currently works as a paralegal in Las Vegas, and has served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Education for the city of Henderson. She has not run for office before.
9. Senate District 11: Incumbent State Sen. Dallas Harris faces her first real challenge since being appointed in 2018 and winning a four-year term in 2020.
Republicans have nominated Lori Rogich, wife of legendary Republican ad man Sig Rogich, for the post.
Lori Rogich worked as a legal secretary and put herself through Rutgers University Law School. She's known for winning a lawsuit against the Clark County School District concerning educational rights for her daughter and other students with learning difficulties such as autism, dyslexia and ADHD.
Harris, also an attorney, works in the consumer rights section of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. A Las Vegas native, she graduated from UNLV with degrees in psychology and computer science, earned a master's degree in public policy at the Claremont Graduate University and a law degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
10. Senate District 18: This seat, vacated by the resignation of former Republican state Sen. Scott Hammond, is being sought by Clark County Fire Department Chief John Steinbeck, who is endorsed by Lombardo. Republicans outnumber Democrats, but the registration is fairly close.
Democrats have nominated Ron Bliodeau, a former U.S. Marine and longtime NV Energy employee who has not sought public office before.
11. Assembly District 4: This seat was left vacant when Assemblyman Richard McArthur opted to run unsuccessfully in the primary for SD-18. Republicans have nominated the Lombardo-endorsed Lisa Cole, a businesswoman and development consultant who has worked on the sprawling Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas. She also graduated from law school.
Democrats have nominated Ryan Hampton, an author who started a nonprofit organization to help people suffering from addiction, something he experienced himself after being prescribed painkillers for a hiking injury.
12. Assembly District 21: Incumbent Assemblywoman Elaine Marzola, first elected in 2020, is facing a challenge from former Henderson police officer April Arndt, whom Lombardo has endorsed, along with a number of police unions. She's a survivor of the 1 October mass shooting.
Marzola, an attorney, is endorsed by a number of unions — including the Henderson Police Officers Association — as well as the Teamsters Local 14, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Nevada State AFL-CIO.
13. Assembly District 29: After incumbent Democrat Lesley Cohen opted not to seek re-election, this Henderson-area seat attracted bids from Democrat Joe Dalia and Republican Annette Dawson Owens.
Dalia, a former intern for the late U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, is an attorney who represented tech companies in Silicon Valley. Owens, endorsed by Lombardo, is a teacher who has pledged to work on education if elected.
14. Assembly District 35: Incumbent Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow resigned in a scandal after she voted in the 2023 session for funding for a nonprofit that would later employ her.
Republicans have nominated Rebecca Edgeworth, a physician who served as the medical director of Volunteers in Medicine and now works at Touro University medical school as director of the university's School of Physician Assistant Studies. Lombardo has given her his backing.
Democrats have chosen Sharifa Wahab, who operates a company that offers in-home care for elderly and disabled people. She came under criticism after an old Facebook post declared that abortion was the same as murder, sentiments from which she later distanced herself.
Wahab has been endorsed by the Assembly Democratic Caucus.
15. Assembly District 37: This seat has traded party representatives during the last few years, with incumbent Shea Backus serving from 2018 to 2020 when she was defeated for re-election, but returning to the seat in 2022. Backus works as an attorney.
This time, Republicans have nominated David Brog, who ran for Congressional District 1 in 2022 but lost in the GOP primary. Brog worked as chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, headed a group called Christians United for Israel and ran the Macabee Task Force, which combats anti-Jewish sentiments on college campuses.
Brog has Lombardo's backing.
16. Assembly District 41: Incumbent Assemblywoman Sandra Juaregui has been a fierce critic of Lombardo since he was elected in 2022, especially after he vetoed a trio of gun-control bills that Juaregui supported. She's said the governor lied about the prevalence of so-called ghost guns used in crimes in Southern Nevada, an allegation he has hotly denied.
Juaregui, a 1 October survivor, was first elected in 2016, has done work for Hilltop Public Solutions, a Democratic political consulting firm with offices across the country.
She's pitted against Republican Rafael Arroyo, who runs the Smog Plus business that inspects cars before they can be re-registered with the DMV. He's advocated for legislation in Carson City as the head of the Registration Services Association of Nevada.
He's endorsed by Lombardo.
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