Former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee to run for Congress, challenge Horsford

Former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, a former Democrat who switched his party affiliation to Republican in 2021, announced Monday that he will run for Congressional District 4 in a bid to unseat Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV).

Lee spent more than nine years as mayor of the state's fourth most populous city before mounting an unsuccessful bid for governor last year that saw him finish fourth in the Republican primary with 7.8 percent of the vote.

"Just as I revitalized North Las Vegas, I'm committed to using the same expertise and conservative principles to rescue our country from the economic challenges we're facing," Lee said in a statement Monday.

Lee, a plumber by trade, also served for eight years in the state Senate and four years in the Assembly. In 2011, Lee nearly ran against Horsford in the Democratic primary for the newly created Congressional District 4, but avoided what he described as a primary that would "avert millions of dollars away from our goals," Roll Call reported in 2011.

Horsford won re-election in the district last year by a margin of 4.8 percentage points, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the 2024 race as "likely Democrat." Congressional District 4 covers northern Clark County including North Las Vegas, as well as rural Nye, Lincoln, Esmeralda and Mineral counties and portions of Lyon and Churchill counties.

Only one other Republican candidate, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. David Flippo, has announced plans to run. Last year, Flippo finished third in the Republican primary for Assembly District 37.