Accusations over socialism, corporate donations shape competitive Nevada Assembly race

The two candidates vying to become the next representative of Nevada's Assembly District 41 — an open seat this year — aren't total opposites, although each accuses the other of being too extreme. 

Vinny Spotleson, the Democrat, and Kelly Chapman, the Republican, ran for office once before, each losing in seats adjacent to Assembly District 41, which spans a southern portion of the Las Vegas Valley. Both survived competitive primaries this year in which sitting members of the Legislature donated to or publicly supported their opponents. Both view affordability as the key issue in the race, saying Nevada's working class is unable to keep pace with rising costs.

And both candidates said in interviews with The Nevada Independent that they're not interested in political labels. 

Spotleson, a teacher and environmental advocate who is not taking corporate donations, argues he's going to win because voters agree with his message about curbing corporations' power — not because of their partisan loyalties. 

Chapman has centered her campaign on strengthening law enforcement and is endorsed by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill. She calls herself a "moderate Republican," touts her past identification as a Democrat and says she isn't worried about being negatively tied to Republican President Donald Trump, whose approval rating is underwater in Nevada in a midterm year. 

"I'm running as Kelly Chapman, right? I'm more focused on local issues that I personally have dealt with," she said.

She has sought to paint Spotleson as too far left for the district. On social media, Chapman has accused Spotleson of bringing "AOC-style socialism" to Nevada and being a "dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America." "AOC" refers to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a self-identified democratic socialist. 

Spotleson said the criticisms exaggerate his affiliation with the Las Vegas chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — although he is a member — and attempt to distract from real issues.

Members of the Republican Party "don't have any actual practical solutions because our president is the one causing the problems," added Spotleson, who describes Trump as fascist. "They just have to label and attack and distract, and that's what my opponent does."

The district, which includes neighborhoods such as Enterprise and Silverado Ranch, is likely to be one of the most competitive races of 2026 and is one of the GOP's top targets. 

Democrats have a slim advantage in the voter rolls — about 30 percent of the district's voters are Democrats, while 26 percent are Republicans. Registered nonpartisans outnumber them both at 37 percent. 

Chapman has outraised Spotleson, raking in $90,000 through June 2026 compared to Spotleson's $62,600. Of her total, $10,000 came from two Lombardo-affiliated PACs, GSD PAC and Nevada Way PAC, and another $10,000 came from two sitting Republican lawmakers: Assm. Lisa Cole (R-Las Vegas) and Assm. Gregory Hafen (R-Pahrump), the body's minority leader. 

Spotleson is endorsed by the Assembly Democratic Caucus, although the only sitting Democratic lawmaker who donated to his general election campaign before the end of June was Assm. Erica Mosca (D-Las Vegas).

He has received significantly more small-dollar donations than Chapman, with a median donation of $80 versus Chapman's $1,000. He's also gotten money from a broader base of donors, with more than 200 individual contributors versus Chapman's 30.

Meet the candidates

Chapman grew up in Las Vegas and has worked in casinos on the Strip for nearly three decades, primarily as a pit boss. She told The Indy she decided to run for office after seeing how the city has changed in her lifetime.

"I've watched families struggle more with affordability, education and feeling safe," Chapman said. "For a long time, I was just waiting for somebody else to fix it, and eventually, I decided, OK, why not me?"

She first ran for the Assembly in 2024, losing by about 8 percentage points to incumbent Assm. Duy Nguyen (D-Las Vegas) in District 8. That year, small-business owner Rafael Arroyo ran as the Republican in AD41, losing by just 250 votes to Sandra Jauregui. This year Arroyo is running for Senate District 12, which overlaps AD41, and Chapman said they plan to campaign together. 

If elected, Chapman said she would focus on housing supply and public safety. She praised the Lombardo administration's efforts to get the federal government to release more land to developers in Nevada. 

Spotleson, who formerly worked as an environmental advocate, favors keeping growth in Las Vegas within the existing default boundary in Southern Nevada, citing environmental and transportation concerns. He told The Indy he believes his stance will likely inspire some developers to donate to his opponent.  

On public safety, Chapman describes the issue as personal. She said she has lost loved ones to violence, including Shauna Tiaffay, a casino co-worker who, in 2012, was brutally murdered by her husband, a Las Vegas firefighter, in a case that went viral. 

Chapman says she wants to see more aggressive enforcement of vehicle registration rules and a lower threshold for felony charges to kick in for theft. She is critical of a 2019 law, AB236, which raised that threshold from $650 to $1,200. 

"Why do I have to go to CVS and my deodorant's locked behind a glass case? It's ridiculous. … That loss gets passed onto people purchasing in those stores," she said. 

Spotleson is a social studies teacher who has been involved in Nevada politics for years, working for former Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and serving as volunteer chair of the Sierra Club. He ran for Assembly District 21 in 2016, losing in the primary.

He says he's running in part to fight "this pessimism that has set in about the ability for government to tackle and solve problems. … I'm trying to tell people, look, if we try these things, things can improve."

He says Chapman doesn't have a clear vision for the community. 

"I don't know what she stands for," he said. "The only idea [of hers] I've heard that is specific is to lock people up and put them in jail for shoplifting for really long periods of time." He calls her approach "authoritarian."

Chapman said in an interview that her stance on shoplifting is not "about the person that makes one mistake" but "repeat offenders."

If he's elected to the Legislature, Spotleson's signature issue would be building municipal light rail in Las Vegas, which he claims would add union jobs while saving Nevadans money on gas. 

Chapman argued Spotleson's light rail plan isn't feasible, pointing to an initial push for the idea in 2019 that petered out after Southern Nevada's transportation authority estimated it would cost $1 billion.

Spotleson said the state's financial situation is different today and that he imagines the project being funded by "a variety of sources," including state bonds, federal grants and money saved from removing tax abatements for data centers. He would not want to raise taxes to fund the effort but would consider a "tiny increase in the sales tax" if voters explicitly approved such a change via ballot initiative.

His other priorities include a crackdown on algorithmic price-fixing by grocery stores and landlords, the latter of which was the subject of a lawsuit from Attorney General Aaron Ford (D)'s office, and a temporary moratorium on data centers. 

Fights over labels

With the progressive wing of the Democratic Party gaining momentum nationwide, Republicans have grown eager to frame their opponents as socialists. Trump and Lombardo took this approach in their respective remarks at the president's recent visit to Vegas. 

Chapman has followed suit, zeroing in on Spotleson's membership in Las Vegas DSA — a line of attack that he and his allies dismiss as ridiculous. 

Spotleson became a member of DSA earlier this year, he told The Indy, in part because he wanted to garner the group's endorsement in his Democratic primary. He also said he agrees with some of DSA's stances on universal healthcare and workers' rights.

Soon after becoming a member, though, Spotleson said he realized that gaining the group's endorsement requires identifying as a socialist, a label he rejects.

He told The Indy that he doesn't like political labels in general, calling them antiquated and unhelpful. When pressed, he said he diverges from DSA on certain issues, including in his belief that "an important part of price control is competition in markets."

Chapman claims she's received "multiple emails" from Democratic voters describing Spotleson as too extreme. 

Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno), a progressive lawmaker representing a swingy Northern Nevada district since 2022, said in an interview that it was pointless to fight over ideology because "extremist MAGA Republicans are going to label any policy that helps working people as communists."

Republicans, meanwhile, welcome the fight.

"This is great for Republicans," said GOP strategist Jeremy Hughes, adding that Spotleson has "the guts to say what he is, while the others hide who they are."

Chapman said she believes Spotleson's views on taxing corporations are especially inappropriate for a state so reliant on the gaming industry.

Casinos are "big corporations" that are "the lifeblood of this state," she said. "We need businesses just like we need workers. … Do they own my vote? No. I will always do what's best for my constituents."

Spotleson said he knows some Democrats "have expressed anxiety internally" about his campaign's focus on economic inequality. But he argued Democrats should embrace bold views and said the Republicans' approach is proof his campaign is succeeding. 

"This is their goal, right? To try to say I'm a fringe candidate with wild ideas," he said. "What's real is that I'm an experienced candidate that's worked on passing things through the Legislature, that I have big ideas for big new solutions that we need to lower costs. And that's what threatens people with money and power, and that's why they're going to continue to spend money against me and to lie about me."

Comparing their views

The Nevada Independent is taking a new approach to inform readers about the candidates running for state Legislature: A survey asking candidates to rate their agreement with a series of policy statements, with the option to elaborate on their answers. 

Use the tool below to see how the AD41 candidates responded. (Note: Chapman declined to respond to the survey.)