In Nevada, long ranked one of the most business-friendly states in the country, it’s no secret some enterprises are willing to spend big on state elections; in some cases, they spend hundreds of thousands to elect legislators.

In 2018, the trend continued as nearly 200 companies or trade associations gave Nevada lawmakers $682,000 during the campaign cycle, good for roughly 6.3 percent of the $11.7 million spent in total.

For the purposes of this analysis, the business category is a catch-all; the companies detailed here are those which do not fit into a clearly defined major industry — such as real estate or health care — yet still contributed large amounts of money to legislative campaigns through corporate accounts. In the same vein, The Nevada Independent also tracked and categorized contributions by individuals clearly related to a business interest.

These contributions were led by the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, which spread $88,500 across 34 legislators. Other major donors include sanitation company Republic Silver State Disposal ($57,750), Ultimate Fighting Championship parent company Zuffa ($51,750), the Retail Association of Nevada ($28,000) and the Henderson Chamber of Commerce ($26,100).

However, unlike industries such as gaming or energy that tend to be defined by a small handful of big-money donors, most (52 percent) of the money contributed came in relatively small donations to just a few candidates. No single donor spent more five-figures, and even the single biggest spender — the Las Vegas Metro Chamber — comprised less than 13 percent of the total.

Most of the money — roughly $400,000 — was spent on campaigns of the 42 legislative Democrats. Republicans, meanwhile, received just $282,000, a difference of about 42 percent. Per average contribution, however, the difference between parties shrinks to just 8 percent, or the difference between $1,162 for Democrats and $1,077 for Republicans.

And though individual Republicans led the way in business-related campaign cash among all 63 legislators, Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson still received the most overall with $82,350 — nearly double the next closest fundraiser.

He was followed by Republican Senate Minority Leader James Settelmeyer ($45,350), Republican Sen. Ben Kieckhefer ($39,557), former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Kelvin Atkinson ($37,600) and Republican Assembly Minority Leader Jim Wheeler ($37,600).

Just five legislators elected or appointed before a January cutoff for fundraising during the legislative session received no contributions from Nevada businesses. Those legislators include Democrats Assemblywoman Bea Duran, Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen and Assemblyman Skip Daly, as well as Republicans Assemblyman Gregory Hafen and Sen. Scott Hammond.

Two legislators — Sen. Marcia Washington and Assemblyman Greg Smith, both Democrats — were appointed to their seats after the fundraising freeze. Because they have no campaign finance disclosures between 2017 and 2018, they are not included in this analysis.

Comparing numbers between each legislative chamber, the 42 lawmakers in the Assembly slightly outraised their Senate counterparts, $366,500 to $315,600. On average, that difference flips, as senators received $1,247 per contribution compared to just $1,038 for Assembly members, or a difference of 20 percent.

As always, we’ve triple checked the math. But if anything seems off, feel free to contact us at [email protected].