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Crear wins Ward 5 Las Vegas special election

Soni Brown
Soni Brown
Election 2018
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Regent Cedric Crear beat out a crowded field to win a low-turnout special election to replace former Councilman Ricki Barlow on the Las Vegas City Council.

Crear received 627 votes or slightly more than 27 percent, outdistancing 10 challengers, including second-place finisher Shondra Summers-Armstrong, who finished with 17 percent.

Crear ran against a former state assemblyman, a real estate agent, a general contractor and a youth basketball coach. He’ll serve the remaining portion of Barlow’s term before going up for re-election in 2019.

But the dominant story of the special election was low turnout. Only 849 registered voters showed up for the two-day early voting last week, 348 more voters cast their votes by mail and only 1,123 voters cast ballots on Election Day. Altogether, 2,320 people voted in the special election out of the more than 38,000 registered voters in the ward.

Voter turnout was about six percent.

Barlow resigned the office in January after pleading guilty to a felony count of fraud when he unlawfully diverted campaign finance money to his personal account. Barlow is scheduled for sentencing in federal court on May 31.

The Las Vegas City Council called for a special election in February to fill the unexpired term for the Ward 5 Council seat. Crear will be sworn in on Apr. 19 at City Hall and will start conducting business on behalf of the council.

The new council member will have many challenges to deal with in representing one of the poorest areas of Las Vegas. The city’s department of planning report shows 39.4 percent of homes are owned by the occupants compared to 52 percent in other parts of the city. Approximately 69 percent of the homes in Ward 5 were built before 1990.

The ward’s unemployment rate of 15.2 percent is 3.4 points higher than the rest of the city. Approximately 27.2 percent of Ward 5’s residents live below the poverty line with most households earning a mean income of $37,419 per year as compared to $50,202, the average household earnings in other wards.

Crear, a small businessman and regent first elected in 2006, was endorsed by Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and dominated the field in fundraising. His campaign platform included fiscal accountability and small business development as a vehicle to jumpstart the ward’s stagnant economy.

Crear led the fundraising race for the special election, bringing in more than $120,000 over the first required fundraising period between Feb. 13 and March 17 — nearly two-thirds of the $181,715 raised by all candidates over that time frame.

He continued his fundraising dominance into the period immediately preceding the election, reporting having raised $28,700 between March 18 and 22 — including a $10,000 contribution from KAG Property LLC, a major Southern Nevada developer.

Crear said he raised campaign funds from a large group of people and industries, as opposed to just focusing on a select few.

“It’s not just a pool of industries or one pool of people,” said Crear. “I am the best candidate to lead Ward 5. That’s the unifying factor.”

Former Democratic Assemblyman Harvey Munford, who finished third, reported raising the next highest total, bringing in $3,500 over the four-day reporting period ahead of early voting. Munford brought in $26,750 during the first fundraising period.

In the 2007 regularly-scheduled municipal election, 17.8 percent of the Ward’s 28,636-person electorate showed up to vote for Barlow and Stacie Truesdell, who lost by 391 votes.

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