Assembly Democrats announce seven endorsements in open seats including two SEIU stewards, Washoe teachers union president
The Assembly Democratic Caucus is announcing seven endorsements on Friday, ahead of a major legislative reshuffling in 2020 as lawmakers hit their term limits or seek higher office.
All of the endorsements are in districts that are either solidly Democratic or lean Democratic and which Democrats won handily in the 2018 election. The party currently holds a supermajority in the Assembly, and are just shy of two-thirds support in the Senate.
The caucus is endorsing Shondra Summers-Armstrong, a management analyst with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada and chief steward with SEIU Local 1107, for Assembly District 6. Assemblyman Will McCurdy, the occupant of that seat, is running for Clark County Commission. Democrat Katie Duncan, founder of the Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce, is also running for the seat.
In Assembly District 7, the caucus is backing Cameron “CH” Miller, who was announced Friday as Nevada political director on Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign. Assemblywoman Dina Neal, who has represented that district since 2010, is running for the state Senate.
Clara “Claire” Thomas is the caucus’s pick in Assembly District 17, which was represented by Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson until he suddenly passed away earlier this year. Thomas is a case manager with the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and, like Summers-Armstrong, a steward with SEIU Local 1107.
The caucus is supporting Venicia Considine, director of development and community relations at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, for Assembly District 18. That seat is currently represented by Assemblyman Richard Carrillo, who is running against Assemblyman Ellen Spiegel for the state Senate seat that Sen. David Parks is termed out of.
To that end, the caucus is endorsing David Orentlicher, a professor at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law and co-director of the UNLV Health Law Program, for Spiegel’s seat in Assembly District 20.
The caucus will also support Elaine Marzola, an attorney and owner at Marzola Injury Law, for Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo’s seat in Assembly District 21. Fumo is seeking a position on the Nevada Supreme Court. Natha Anderson, president of the Washoe Education Association, will receive the caucus’s endorsement in Assembly District 30. That seat has been held by Assemblyman Greg Smith since Mike Sprinkle resigned in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against him.