Nevada kicked off a two-week period March 2 in which candidates who are seeking offices other than as judges must file paperwork to appear on the ballot.

Candidates must appear in person, pay a filing fee, show identification and sign paperwork to complete the transaction. For seats within a single county, candidates file at that county clerk’s office; for multi-county seats, they file with the Nevada Secretary of State.

The filing period is a major step for candidates to make their bids official, even though many have already announced their candidacy and have started campaigning. Judicial candidates had a separate filing period in January.

The primary election is June 9, and early voting runs from May 23 to June 5. The general election is Nov. 3, with an early voting period that runs from Oct. 17-30.

Below are highlights from the candidate filing period, as well as a spreadsheet of filed candidates. Check back over the next two weeks for updates.

9:10 p.m.: Assembly candidates from rural, Northern Nevada file for office

Candidates filing for legislative seats in Northern Nevada took a less charitable view than their southern counterparts of the Clark County teacher union’s efforts to hike sales tax rates and gaming tax rates by statewide ballot initiative.

While legislative leaders in Las Vegas avoided direct criticism of the Clark County Education Association’s proposal to raise more than a billion dollars through the two tax increases, northern Democrats were more blunt in their assessment.

“I'm not a big fan of constitutional amendments or ballot measures,” said Skip Daly, who filed to run for his Assembly seat. “I'm not saying that they're off base and that it may not be needed, but I think you should give the Legislature a chance to do his job.”

He said lawmakers would have the chance to weigh the pros and cons of various tax increases more than the average citizen would with a ballot measure. And he suggested mining might be a better route than a dramatic increase on the gaming tax.

“It's easy to pick on gaming,” he said. “The miners have been getting a free ride for 50 plus years now.”

Assembly candidate Natha Anderson, a teacher and lobbyist for the Nevada State Education Association — the state union from which CCEA split — also opposed the proposed ballot measures. She said she learned from a 2014 tax hike ballot measure that failed by a 4-to-1 margin, and also a 2010 measure promoted by her union in 2010 — IP1 — whose revenue has since been diverted to pay for other state needs aside from education.

“I've got problems with it … there's no guarantee it's going to education. We don't know where else it's going to go,” she said. She pointed out that factors, such as coronavirus, that could affect casino revenue. “Another concern I have is with gaming being so dependent upon so many other areas that are outside the control of people in Nevada.”

Teresa Benitez-Thompson, the Democratic majority leader who has served in the Assembly for a decade, said she learned the challenges of promoting a sales tax increase when she worked to enact one a few years ago in Washoe County.

“The polling at that time told us that the appetite was very, very low for such increases. So it took a coalition of business, community members, private community members and electeds coming together to work on that ballot initiative, and ultimately to see it succeed,” she said.

“And so that's absolutely one of the things I'll be watching for. Is this going to be something that's supported equally by the people and by the business community?”

Assembly members Benitez-Thompson and Daly filed for re-election at the Washoe County Government Center. Anderson filed for the seat held by Greg Smith, who was appointed during the 2019 session but is not seeking to retain the seat.

Republican Sandra Linares filed to run against Daly, and Republican Barb Hawn filed to challenge Benitez-Thompson.

Republican Lisa Krasner filed for re-election, and Democrat Wendy Jauregui-Jackins, whose sister is an assemblywoman, filed to run for the seat held by Republican Sen. Heidi Gansert.

In rural districts, Assembly members John Ellison, Jim Wheeler, Al Kramer and Gregory Hafen filed for re-election with the Nevada Secretary of State. Democrat Derek Morgan also filed for Assembly District 40, which is currently held by Kramer.

Republican Sen. Pete Goicoechea, who represents a vast rural district, is also seeking re-election.

Rep. Steven Horsford also filed to run for re-election to the 4th Congressional District. Four people challenging Horsford or 2nd Congressional District Rep. Mark Amodei also filed.

“Despite the many distractions taking place in Washington, I remain focused on the issues that matter most to my constituents,” Horsford said in a statement. “I take my responsibility to serve the people of Nevada seriously.”

— Michelle Rindels

4:25 p.m.: Assembly, Senate candidates file in Clark County

Democratic leaders from the Assembly and Senate posed for photos, hugged and caught up with their fellow state lawmakers — along with those hoping to become their colleagues — Monday afternoon at the Clark County Government Center.

The quasi-reunion happened on the first day of candidate filing, kicking off a campaign season that will see Democrats try to hang onto their majorities in both houses of the Legislature. But Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro painted an optimistic portrait of that quest heading into the election cycle.

“We’re going to fight hard for it,” Frierson said of maintaining the Assembly’s Democratic supermajority. “We realize we have a couple of tight races, and I think that we are committed to managing the advancement of good policies.”

Before heading in to file the candidacy paperwork, Frierson and Cannizzaro rattled off a list of Democratic accomplishments from the 2019 Legislature and vowed to move the needle forward in 2021. They cited progress with climate change, surprise medical billing, prescription drug pricing, minimum wage and education funding as some examples.

At least some of those issues, though, likely will re-emerge during the next legislative session. The Clark County Education Association already has filed two initiative petitions that seek to increase the gaming tax and sales tax to significantly boost K-12 education funding.

The Democratic leaders have largely avoided directly addressing the union-led effort, and they did so again Monday.

“I’m not in charge of ballot initiatives,” Frierson said. “What I support is us doing the right thing in the Legislature to advance good policies. And, as I said earlier, I think the responsible thing to do for us is to put pressure on our colleagues who have not quite gotten there yet to say, ‘This is worthwhile, and we need to do our jobs and provide for our basic community’s needs.’ That’s going to be our focus.”

Cannizzaro echoed that sentiment, saying the conversation surrounding education funding is far from over despite increases to the per-pupil amount and more money for school safety. 

“Education funding remains something we’ll continue to talk about as we go into this election cycle and well into this next session,” she said.

But the first hurdle is the general election, which could be affected by the presidential race and turnout. Presidential elections can have a coattails effect, inspiring voters to select candidates of a certain party all the way down the ballot, or a balancing effect, in which people cast votes for the opposite party on down-ballot races as a hedge to prevent too much of an ideological lean.

Frierson said it’s too early to tell what the effect might be this year, but he urged voters to look at the larger picture.

“I think that folks who are concerned about which candidate ultimately prevails need to remember, unlike four years ago, where it was largely unknown what would happen, we’ve now seen that it’s not just about your candidate,” he said. “It’s about the makeup of the federal bench. It’s about climate change. It’s about things that we have to live with for generations.”

The following Democratic candidates backed by the Nevada Senate Democratic Caucus filed in Clark County on Monday afternoon: Pat Spearman (Senate District 1); Chris Brooks (Senate District 3); Dina Neal (Senate District 4); Kristee Watson (Senate District 5); Nicole Cannizzaro (Senate District 6); Roberta Lange (Senate District 7); and Dallas Harris (Senate District 11.)

Likewise, these were the Democratic candidates endorsed by the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus who also filed Monday in Clark County: Daniele Monroe-Moreno (Assembly District 1); Selena Torres (Assembly District 3); Connie Munk (Assembly District 4); Brittney Miller (Assembly District 5); Shondra Summers-Armstrong (Assembly District 6); Cameron Miller (Assembly District 7); Jason Frierson (Assembly District 8); Steve Yeager (Assembly District 9); Rochelle Nguyen (Assembly District 10); Bea Duran (Assembly District 11); Susie Martinez (Assembly District 12); Maggie Carlton (Assembly District 14); Howard Watts (Assembly District 15); Clara Thomas (Assembly District 17); David Orentlicher (Assembly District 20); Elaine Marzola (Assembly District 21); Edgar Flores (Assembly District 28); Lesley Cohen (Assembly District 29); Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod (Assembly District 34); Michelle Gorelow (Assembly District 35); Shea Backus (Assembly District 37); Alexander Assefa (Assembly District 42.) 

It wasn’t just Democrats heading to the Clark County Government Center for filing. Andy Matthews, past president of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, announced in a news release that he had filed as a Republican for the Assembly seat in District 37.  

“Today marks an important milestone in our campaign to fight for Nevada’s future,” Matthews said in a statement. “I continue to be overwhelmed and honored by the incredible support our campaign is attracting, and I’m thrilled today to take this crucial step toward victory this year.” 

Assembly Republicans also tweeted a photo of several incumbents — Melissa Hardy (Assembly District 22), Chris Edwards (Assembly District 19), Glen Leavitt (Assembly District 23), Tom Roberts (Assembly District 13) and Gregory Hafen (Assembly District 36) — filing for candidacy Monday in Clark County.

For a full list of candidates who filed in Clark County on Monday, click here. 

— Jackie Valley and Shannon Miller