As top Assembly leader leaves, 3 Dems say they have what it takes to protect a purple seat

The Democrat who won the closest race in Nevada in 2024 is retiring from the Legislature, paving the way for a competitive Democratic primary in her seat, state Assembly District 41. 

Assm. Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) won her re-election bid in 2024 by just 250 votes and is running for lieutenant governor this year. 

None of the three Democratic candidates seeking to replace her — Spencer Ridenour, Vinny Spotleson and Gabriela Wyett — have experience in elected office, but all say they have what it takes to win the seat, the only legislative district where a Democrat and President Donald Trump (R) both won.

The district spans a southern portion of Las Vegas, including neighborhoods in Enterprise and Silverado Ranch. It's home to more registered Democrats than Republicans, although the plurality of its voters are registered as nonpartisan. It voted for Trump by just 0.5 points in 2024. 

Spotleson, 39, and Wyett, 49, have the most endorsements, with Wyett backed by multiple trade unions and the Public Safety Alliance of Nevada and Spotleson backed by more liberal advocacy groups and unions, including Culinary Workers Union Local 226. Last month, Spotleson and Wyett received the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, which has made multiple cross-endorsements in this primary cycle. 

Jauregui isn't endorsing anyone in the race, she told The Nevada Independent, but said she's voting for Ridenour, 36, and has door-knocked for him. 

Spotleson — the most progressive of the three — raised roughly $35,000 in the first quarter of 2026 to lead the pack, while Wyett brought in roughly $26,000 and Ridenour roughly $14,000. Multiple groups have also sent out campaign mailers boosting Wyett, while mailers supporting Ridenour and Spotleson have been paid for by their teams.  

Spotleson is a social studies teacher and union member with the Clark County Education Association. He 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 in 2016 but lost. 

Spotleson said he's a strong candidate because of his focus on economic inequality and energy costs.

"Everybody on the whole political spectrum in Nevada cares about our water problems. … They don't want to see all the sacrifices we've made for water here in the valley, just so the developers can build more mansions," he said. 

He added that his refusal to take corporate donations appeals to voters who "want to see somebody that's not bought and sold."

Spotleson's priorities include building public transportation, shifting Nevada toward cleaner, cheaper energy sources and fighting collusion pricing on housing and grocery costs.

Wyett, who was born and partly raised in Nevada and attended UNLV, is a banking professional with decades of experience helping small businesses grow and secure capital. She is chair of the Nevada Commission on Minority Affairs and vice chair of Neighborhood Housing Services of Southern Nevada.

She said her "superpower" is "relationship-building." As a representative for the Commission on Minority Affairs — which she was appointed to after fleeing domestic violence with her kids — she's learned about the importance and complexity of policymaking. 

Being in the Legislature means you "have to know how to communicate, negotiate and you've got, you know, 10 to 15 minutes to captivate your audience," Wyett said. 

She said she's always been a strong Democrat but described herself as "somewhat politically ambiguous" because of her pro-business, pro-public safety views. She said the district's voters "need a moderate voice, and I know that's me."

If elected, Wyett says she'll help Nevadans find jobs, access healthcare and avoid homelessness. 

Ridenour is a bartender at The Cosmopolitan hotel and a member of Bartenders Union Local 165 who attended UNLV. He worked for Jauregui during her 2022 and 2024 campaigns. 

He says he's running because he thinks working-class Nevadans need a lawmaker who looks like them. If elected, he'll focus on healthcare, supporting the hospitality industry and making housing attainable.

"Me going up to Carson City, I'm not going to be bartending for six months, I''m going to be losing a lot of income," Ridenour said. "And I'm prepared for that. I'm doing this because I really, honestly care about working people."

A competitive race

Whoever wins the Democratic primary for AD41 is likely to face another competitive race in the fall.

The district's Republican primary is also competitive, a faceoff between casino worker Kelly Chapman and real estate agent Tofuola "Tofu" Alofipo. Chapman is endorsed by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) and has slightly outraised Alofipo, who has been endorsed by a variety of local and state politicians, including Assembly Minority Leader Gregory Hafen (R-Pahrump). 

The Assembly Democratic Caucus is not weighing in on open races this cycle, unlike in some past cycles. 

Assm. Elaine Marzola (D-Las Vegas), the speaker pro tempore and chair of the Assembly Democratic Caucus, wrote in a statement to The Indy that the caucus is focused instead on protecting the 10 incumbent Democratic assemblymembers facing primary challenges this year.

Marzola has donated $1,000 to each of the three Democrats running for AD41, either directly or through her Nevada Brave PAC. She told The Indy it was because she knows how intimidating it can be to run for office. 

As for overall fundraising numbers, Spotleson has gotten the most small-dollar donations and has received contributions from Clark County Commissioners Michael Naft and Marilyn Kirkpatrick. Wyett has the least small-dollar donors and has been supported by NV Energy and multiple unions that supported the film tax credits bill. Ridenour has raised the least but has received multiple donations from Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas), who's also retiring from the Legislature this year.

On the issues

Housing

Ridenour and Spotleson say that to address Nevada's affordable housing crisis, they would support a ban on corporate homeownership — a hot-button issue that's been embraced by Republicans and Democrats and is the subject of a recently convened working group by Lombardo. 

Wyett didn't return a question from The Indy about her views on corporate homeownership.

But she, along with Ridenour, did say they wanted to make homeownership easier for Nevadans by enacting tax incentives or creating new development programs aimed at prospective homebuyers.

Another frequent source of blame for Nevada's housing crisis is the state's limited access to federal lands. Nevada's Congressional delegation — made up mostly of Democrats — has pushed for federal land sales to open up more land for housing. 

While the Legislature has little control over the issue, Jauregui has expressed strong support for the strategy and introduced a resolution in the Legislature last year, AJR10, affirming lawmakers' desire to pursue land sales.

Wyett was more cautious about the issue.

She said she understood the reasoning for federal land sales, but said it was better to first build on existing vacant lots — an approach known as infill development — and mentioned her worries about a lack of infrastructure and transportation at Clark County's outskirts, where most of the federal land exists. 

Spotleson said while he wants to see more housing built, he was against federal land sales beyond the existing default boundary in Southern Nevada. He said he'd like to see the creation of municipal light rail, which would be especially attractive in Las Vegas because the infrastructure would create union jobs and save residents money on gas. 

Healthcare

Each candidate said ensuring Nevadans receive quality healthcare will be one of their key priorities if elected.

Ridenour said he was terrified when last year's federal budget made cuts to Medicaid and other welfare programs, citing the recent reduction in services at Boulder City Hospital as proof of the effect of Nevadans. 

He said the state would need to boost funding to ensure "we don't have shorter hours, less staff, and places closing" at healthcare facilities and to make sure people can access preventive care.

Wyett said she "keeps hearing that constituents are worried about healthcare." Nevada lacks an adequate healthcare workforce, she said, and needs more pipelines available to assist with talent recruitment. 

She'd look to establish workforce development programs to address the state's paucity of providers and speed up care, citing a healthcare bill she worked on in the Legislature as chair of the Commission on Minority Affairs. 

Spotleson said ideally the federal government would establish a universal healthcare system and make access to healthcare a constitutional right.

But until those changes happen, he said "what we're doing is just triage." He wants to see Nevada dedicate more revenue toward healthcare via the rainy day fund or tax increases on the rich. He also wants further accountability for insurance companies, citing The Indy's reporting that companies were denying claims for mental healthcare coverage. 

He also said he would want to eventually see the state raise its Medicaid reimbursement rates — the amount the state pays healthcare providers — which are lower than the nationwide average. 

Economy

All three candidates said they were worried about the state of Nevada's economy. Ridenour said as a bartender, he's seen firsthand how the state's hospitality industry has struggled during the second Trump administration — he's had hardly any Canadian customers this year, and his co-workers feel hopeless.

"The current state of our economy, that's not the world I want to live in," he said. 

Spotleson said that amid the affordability crisis, corporations need to pay their fair share. He favors a "millionaire's tax" or "mansion tax" to hold accountable "the corporations that are taking advantage of our state."

The race is, in part, a referendum on the Legislature narrowly voting down a bill last year that would have massively expanded tax credits for film companies in Nevada. 

Jauregui introduced the bill and was one of its key champions alongside many trade unions, who have since assembled a political operation to punish lawmakers who opposed it. 

Spotleson and Ridenour are union members, although Wyett has received the most union endorsements. 

Ridenour said he would have spoken with constituents before voting on the bill but that he liked its goal of diversifying the state's economy. 

Spotleson was a harsh critic of the bill.

"I'm against transfers of wealth from taxpayers to rich corporations, just generally, and then in this specific instance, it just didn't even seem constitutional," he said, referencing the credits' high price tag.

Wyett had mixed feelings, saying she was "all for creating jobs and making sure that people have opportunity" and likely would have voted for the final version of the bill. But she also said she was concerned about the tax abatements being too generous and the jobs actually going to Nevada's union members rather than out-of-state workers.

This article was corrected at 8:40 a.m. on 6/1/2026 to reflect that Spencer Ridenour is a member of Bartenders Union Local 165.