North Las Vegas is on the rebound. But who will lead it next?

North Las Vegas was hit particularly hard by the Great Recession in 2008. The city nearly declared bankruptcy and was close to being taken over by state officials — large infrastructure projects had to be postponed due to lack of funds, hundreds of city jobs were cut and the city had to declare a fiscal emergency in 2012. 

It's something that candidates for local office still bring up.

However, two leading candidates for North Las Vegas mayor, City Councilmember Scott Black and Assm. Daniele Monroe-Moreno, said in conversations with The Indy that Nevada's third-largest city has moved past its struggles and is now focused on growth. The race to replace termed-out Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown is centered on sustainable development, new infrastructure and keeping the economy diverse.

The two mayoral candidates will face off during the nonpartisan primary on June 9, alongside three other contenders — Gary Bouchard, Zaire Langdon and Henry Thorns — who have not raised more than $100,000. (Black is sitting with more than $800,000 in his war chest, and Monroe-Moreno has almost $290,000.)   

After the nonpartisan primary, the top two people advance to the general unless one person gets 51 percent or more of the vote. After the general election, the winner will take a part-time job that pays a $63,336 annual salary, according to Kathleen Richards, a North Las Vegas spokesperson. 

Both are experienced politicians: Monroe-Moreno is a seasoned assemblymember and chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, and Black is a longtime councilmember.

Hanging over the race is a lawsuit against Black, which alleges that he will not be eligible to serve a full term as mayor because of Nevada's term limit laws. 

So far, he has served nine years as a councilman because of an election schedule change from the Legislature that gave him an extra year in office. Should he become mayor — a position that functions as a voting member of the city council — he would finish his term over the state's 12-year term limit rule, much like current North Las Vegas Mayor Goynes-Brown. Black is fighting the case in court, won an initial victory this week and has succeeded in keeping his name on the ballot. 

But who are the candidates, and where do they stand on the issues facing North Las Vegas? Read on for more. 

The candidates

Black's family moved to North Las Vegas from Henderson when he was in fourth grade. Raised by a single mother, Black, 55, said he is proud to be from North Las Vegas, and has raised his daughter, who recently made Black a grandfather, in the city. He has been a Scouting America, formerly Boy Scouts, leader for more than 20 years. In a text message statement, Black said he also is a proud member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

A former United Parcel Service worker and owner of a small marketing firm, Black said he had been interested in public service for a long time before he ran for the City Council Ward 3 seat in 2017. It was around that time, Black said, that North Las Vegas had begun recovering from the fiscal challenges lingering from the recession. 

"I'm already doing the job," Black told The Indy on why he thought he was the right candidate for the mayoral position. "The city is on the right track." 

Black sits on the board of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and is the chair of the Southern Nevada Health District — a source of controversy in recent months after a water conservation measure that would have been costly for Las Vegas-area residents was proposed. 

Monroe-Moreno, 62, was adopted and raised by foster parents, moved to North Las Vegas from Tucson, Arizona, and has lived in the city for 25 years. She and her husband have three daughters and six grandchildren. 

Prior to being in office, she was a correctional officer for the North Las Vegas Police Department for nearly three decades, and, like Black, cited an interest in public office long before running for an elected seat. In an interview with The Indy, she said she was involved in providing support for parents and students at Rancho High School. 

In a statement to The Indy, Monroe-Moreno said she is a church member Nehemiah Ministries and that she's been to a "number of congregations and faith communities across North Las Vegas throughout the campaign."

Elected to the Assembly in 2016, Monroe-Moreno has risen to key leadership posts, including as chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and as speaker pro tempore, one of the top positions in the Assembly. She co-sponsored the film tax credit bill that failed during a special session called last November largely to consider the measure. 

In some ways, their careers are similar: Both candidates have served nine years in public office with deep ties to North Las Vegas. 

However, Monroe-Moreno's professional political career has largely played out on the state and national level with connections there to match — in her role as the top ambassador and spokesperson of the state party, she's shared the stage with Democratic presidential candidates such as Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris, and during a debate last month, she cited an ability to give federal contacts a call to discuss Bureau of Land Management issues directly. As the Nevada Democratic Party chair, she is the leader of the state's Democratic Party and is responsible for meeting with county Democratic chairs across the state as well as advocating for the party's cause nationally and in state. 

Many of her endorsements reflect this as well — Rep. Steve Horsford (D-NV), several North Las Vegas Assembly members and state senators, as well as former North Las Vegas Constable Herb Brown have given her their support.

In comparison, Black's sway has stayed local. He's been endorsed by the Vegas Chamber of Commerce, as well as Goynes-Brown. He also has the support of the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association, as well as North Las Vegas Police Supervisors Association. 

Neither candidate is without controversy. During his time in office, Black supported Ryann Juden, a former city manager who left the city in 2024 to pursue other opportunities. However, Juden was paid almost $1 million in severance pay, unused vacation time and consulting fees after his departure. 

On the city's decision to award Juden such an unusually generous compensation package, Black told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Juden "had a great track record, and so we had the opportunity to hold on to a percentage of his bandwidth to help us continue the momentum in our city."

Candidate filing reports show that Monroe-Moreno has accepted donations from the plaintiff of the lawsuit filed against Black. 

The lawsuit was filed by Karin Rodriguez, a North Las Vegas voter who works in the legal field and has been active in voter engagement. Rodriguez donated $1,250 to the assemblymember's campaign in February, and then Monroe-Moreno gave $1,250 to Rodriguez at the end of March. 

Monroe-Moreno also made two payments totaling $1,750 — one in January and one in February — to the firm representing Rodriguez, Bravo Schraeger LLP. 

In a statement to The Indy, Monroe-Moreno said she had no knowledge of the lawsuit and had no involvement in its filing. She said she had retained the services of Schrager before she learned of the lawsuit, and returned Rodriguez's donation as soon as she learned of his donation. 

Economy and unemployment

According to Black, North Las Vegas' economic troubles have made the city stronger than ever, without budget deficit problems or expensive lawsuits facing municipalities such as Las Vegas or Clark County. 

Despite reduced tax income, the city is no longer in a deficit — in the past three years, the city has gone from having an $83 million budget deficit to a budget surplus of $8 million today, out of a total budget of $920 million last year. 

"We've come out of our fiscal problems over a decade ago," Black said, adding that the city was continuing to grow its tax base with new industrial development. "We're strong, we've hired strategically, our budget is structurally balanced … so we're in really good shape." 

Monroe-Moreno said she was proud to witness the rebuilding the city has gone through following the struggles of the recession, and is excited about how the city will continue to grow. 

However, she said she is worried about an uptick in unemployment rates at the beginning of last year, despite continued development in the area. During the pandemic, unemployment rates in the Las Vegas Valley hit a high of more than 30 percent, and rates hovered around nearly 14 percent following the 2008 recession. 

"I hate going on a job site and seeing out-of-state plates when I know there's people that are qualified here to do that work," Monroe-Moreno said. 

To fully weather another economic downturn, Monroe-Moreno said the city needs economic diversification, as well as budget cuts to increase efficiency. 

Housing

Monroe-Moreno has taken a hard-line approach to corporate homeownership, as stated on her website. 

"As Mayor, she will ..." her website reads, "... crack down on the unchecked growth of corporate ownership that is pricing out hardworking families." 

In a statement via text message, Black called corporate homeownership an "issue in our entire region," and said people needed homes that they could afford. 

On whether she would support a rental cap measure, Monroe-Moreno said she was against the idea. (Black did not answer a question on whether or not he supported rent caps.)

"What I support is protecting seniors, veterans, and working families on fixed incomes from unfair and dramatic rent increases that are forcing people out of their homes," Monroe-Moreno said in a statement. 

North Las Vegas has seen some complications in the effort to address the blighted Windsor Park neighborhood, as funding sources for a public redevelopment plan for the largely Black North Las Vegas community built in the 1960s became uncertain in 2024. Residents have been fighting for help for the neighborhood, which is built on sinking ground, since the 1980s. 

Monroe-Moreno said that there has been progress in the Windsor Park move, but there "is still more work to do" in ensuring residents have a good quality of life. 

Regarding the relocation, Black said the city has supported the new developer "every step of the way," and that he's pleased to see new homes being built. 

Immigration 

Clark County is more than 30 percent Hispanic, with a strong immigrant foothold in North Las Vegas — more than 40 percent of the city is Hispanic or Latino, according to census data. 

The city's police department does not have a formal 287(g) agreement, which is the term for a partnership between local municipalities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, the city still follows federal law and does not hinder ICE in its enforcement. 

When asked about the city's role in immigration enforcement, Black emphasized that the city would follow federal law and cooperate with law enforcement, including the Laken Riley Act. However, he did speak about the closure of the Broadacres Market in North Las Vegas last year due to fears of an immigration crackdown. The market reopened later in the summer. 

"I was there with the mayor and Councilwoman (Ruth) Garcia-Anderson when it reopened. It was awesome, it was lively, it was full," Black said. 

In a statement to The Indy, Monroe-Moreno said that some of President Donald Trump's immigration efforts were "ripping families apart," though she supported enforcing federal law. 

"Once adjudicated, those who are found guilty of a violent crime and who are here illegally should be deported, but that's not what's happening," she said. "In many horrific cases we've seen play out across the country, these masked, untrained, often unidentifiable by their attire are unaccountable officers violating Americans' civil rights." 

Development 

The city has seen an influx of development in the past decade — in 2016, the long-awaited Apex Industrial Complex opened, construction of 1,500 new homes is underway right now and Nevada State University just opened a satellite campus. The city has also launched a downtown redevelopment plan to revitalize the city center. 

Though Monroe-Moreno said she welcomed development into the city, she also said she did not want to lose focus on what it was like to live in North Las Vegas. She said this was a key difference between her and Black, who she said was more focused on profits rather than people. 

"There is so much growth that is going to happen over the next 12 years," Monroe-Moreno said. "You need companies so that your community members can have jobs, but the community has to be put first." 

During a debate hosted by the Vegas Chamber in April, Monroe-Moreno pointed out that some community members had not felt included in the conversations around data center expansion plans by Switch and Novva, though she said it was amazing that the companies were investing in the community. She said there was a place for data centers as industrial partners in the community, but was also concerned about how much water they were using. 

Black was more enthusiastic about data centers, and said that they operated under a "closed loop system," which means that they recycle the water consumed in the center. The system is meant only for indoor water use, which it can recycle approximately 99 percent. 

Black also spoke positively about the 18,000-acre industrial hub Apex Industrial Complex, as well as the investment in road and water infrastructure it would require to balance growth in the area. So far, six companies have either completed construction on the site or are in process of moving in. However, he saw the industrial area — as well as development more broadly — as a sort of barrier against potential economic troubles. 

"You have a downturn in tourism, you have global issues, federal issues trickling down to us. There are certain things you can control, certain things we can't,'" Black said. "What we can control is how we develop in this city, and we're doing that out in Apex."

This story was updated at 8:15 a.m. on 5/9/26 to correct the Black's political party and former place of work. He is a Democrat, not a Republican. t was also updated at 1:30 p.m. to add Monroe-Moreno's church.