Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) and former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee have known each other for years.

The two served together as Democrats in the state Senate, representing neighboring districts, for eight years. From 2009 to 2012, Horsford even served as Lee’s majority leader. Horsford went on to represent Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, anchored by North Las Vegas; Lee to serve as the majority-minority city’s mayor.

More than a decade later, their careers are crossing paths again — but this time, they’re opponents. Lee, now a Republican, is challenging Horsford. Despite their longtime familiarity, Horsford, in an interview, didn’t offer any thoughts as to how or why Lee had changed since their time as colleagues.

“My opponent, in my view, is an opportunistic candidate who is aligning with Donald Trump,” Horsford said.

Lee, a businessman, changed parties to become a Republican in 2021, nearly eight years into his term as North Las Vegas mayor. Shortly after, he mounted a failed gubernatorial bid — his first run as a Republican. 

This cycle, armed with an endorsement from Trump, he won the June primary for the chance to defeat his old colleague. Lee didn’t have any fondness for his former colleague either.

“It's the same old Horsford I've always known,” Lee said in an interview. “There's no difference, no change. [I’m] not impressed.”

Horsford, a Las Vegas native, was the 4th Congressional District’s first-ever representative when it was created as a result of the 2010 Census, containing northern Clark County and the vast, sparsely populated rural counties in the center of the state. (Ironically, Lee explored running in 2011 but ultimately dropped out in favor of Horsford, who he called a “great candidate” at the time.) After serving one term, he lost in the red wave of 2014 to then-Assemblyman Cresent Hardy (R-NV). 

Democrats regained the seat in 2016 and have controlled it ever since; Horsford returned in 2018 and has won his last three elections. Nevada politicos in both parties agree the experience of losing made him a strong campaigner, running as if he is behind even though the district has been shored up for Democrats — who have a 7 percent voter registration advantage — and is typically categorized as “lean” blue.

Horsford’s national profile has risen during his congressional tenure as well, culminating in his being named chair of the storied Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in 2023. His CBC leadership is part of the reason that national Republican groups have been wary to enter the race, knowing that any dollar they put in will be doubled by Democratic groups. 

Each candidate’s advertising totals convey the dynamics of the race — and what an uphill climb Lee faces. Horsford’s campaign and Democrat-aligned groups have spent more than $3 million and have reserved an additional nearly $3 million in October and November spending. Lee, standing on his own, has spent just $76,000 and has no future advertisements booked.

“John Lee has some appeal,” said David Damore, a political scientist at UNLV. “[It’s] an interesting race for the personality makeup. But I think that Horsford, given his history and the access he's going to have to national money, that the Republicans are going to really struggle there to match him.”

Who is John Lee?

Lee, who has lived in Southern Nevada since moving to North Las Vegas at the age of 6, has served in various government positions during the years, including the Assembly, the state Senate and eventually the mayor’s office in North Las Vegas. During his mayoralty, he took on the city’s fiscal challenges and pursued economic development, including the creation of Apex Industrial Park.

Throughout his career in public service, Lee also owned and operated a successful plumbing business, the source of much of his personal wealth. Lee sold the business in 2017.

His personal financial disclosure lists the value of his assets at between $13.8 million and $37.2 million — a total that would likely make him the wealthiest member of the Nevada delegation, if elected. The wide range is related to how the personal financial disclosure system works: Candidates report the value of their assets in broad categories, such as $5 million to $25 million.

Lee’s assets, held in limited liability corporations and retirement accounts, include real estate, stocks, bonds, bank accounts, U.S. Treasury bills and mutual fund holdings.

Horsford’s assets, by contrast, are worth between $45,000 and $150,000. Horsford owns one home, his primary residence in Las Vegas, and is liable for a mortgage worth between $100,000 and $250,000. He reports no other earned income beyond his congressional salary.

Lee, along with his wife, currently owns and rents out three commercial properties in Clark County, per Clark County property records. Their tenants include an auto repair shop in North Las Vegas, a TV repair business, insurance company and traffic control business, a mold remediation business and a concrete contractor. He expects to make between $115,000 and $250,000 in rent this year.

“These properties reflect my ongoing dedication to supporting Nevada's local economy,” Lee said in a statement.

Because Lee has maintained a complex constellation of businesses and a family trust, a full accounting of his property ownership over the years is difficult to ascertain. Lee lists a home he rents in Aliante, North Las Vegas, as his primary residence. But he has various ties to southwestern Utah as well.

The only home he owns, according to his campaign, is a six-bedroom vacation house in southwestern Utah worth an estimated $1.4 million. 

Lee said he occasionally visits his Utah home for family vacations, but that his “home and heart are right here in North Las Vegas.”

Race dynamics

Congressional District 4 is 3 percentage points more Democratic than the nation, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and has voted in recent cycles as such — Horsford won by about 5 points in 2022.

Given that Lee is independently wealthy and the only Republican challenger to have held elected office, experts and political consultants in Nevada and Washington, D.C., consider this race to be the most competitive of the cycle.

The Horsford campaign is treating it as such. Horsford has been an active fundraiser and hired a campaign manager with rural experience to try to improve his margins in rural central Nevada as well. To that end, his campaign says it has seen increased volunteer activity relative to prior cycles in Pahrump, Mesquite, Tonopah and on Native American reservations.

In North Las Vegas, the Horsford campaign has found its messaging around housing affordability to be a winner, particularly among persuadable independent voters. It’s a traditional Nevada Democratic campaign that includes door-to-door paid canvassing since June through the coordinated campaign and holding culturally sensitive events with various communities.

The Lee campaign, meanwhile, is banking on crossover voting, particularly among the district’s sizable Latino population, who make up about 34 percent of Congressional District 4. Their modeling suggests that half of Latino voters are willing to vote for a member of the opposing party — to that end, nearly all of Lee’s spending, from signs to digital advertisements, have been in Spanish.

Lee has been significantly outspent — a reality his campaign has accepted. Without the resources to compete on the airwaves with Horsford, they’re banking on their outreach to their target demographic. The Lee campaign also believes Trump will lose the district, as he did in 2020, so their candidate has to run ahead of him — hence the focus on crossover voters.

Thus far, outside Republican groups are keeping an eye on the race, but their lack of spending indicates that they don’t feel optimistic enough about Lee’s chances to invest. While House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has included Las Vegas on his fundraising schedule, planning to host an event with Lee next week, neither the National Republican Congressional Committee nor the leadership-connected Congressional Leadership Fund have spent a dollar in the race.

The Horsford campaign believes that its better-funded campaign operation and an uptick in Democratic enthusiasm, particularly with key groups such as men of color, since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, will carry the day.

“I'm confident that in November, the voters of this district will appoint me to another two years to continue to fight for them, as I've done,” Horsford said.

On policy

TAXES

Lee and Horsford list tax policy as top agenda items for 2025, and for good reason — the 2017 Trump tax cuts expire next year, making it a focus for the next Congress.

Horsford, who was recently reinstated to the Ways & Means Committee, the influential tax writing panel, introduced the TIPS Act to end taxation on tips as well as eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers. He also wants to expand the child tax credit, which Democrats did on a temporary basis in 2021; the expansion has since expired.

“My focus is on helping everyday Nevadans have more fair and equitable tax policy, as well as helping our small businesses have the tax credits and deductions that they need to continue to grow their business and hire more Nevada workers,” he said.

Lee, meanwhile, wants to renew the Trump tax cuts, and, in accordance with Trump pledges, remove taxes on Social Security benefits and overtime pay.

HOUSING

Horsford also named housing as a key issue for him — he’s introduced a bill to crack down on corporate investors buying up home stock, an issue that’s been prevalent in North Las Vegas. Lee’s housing strategy is to change course on energy policy, which he believes will unlock lower prices across sectors.

“If we control the energy challenges this country has with gas and oil and all those things, things will be naturally cheaper because we won't be sending our natural resources over to other places and have them refined, or buying more product from other locations,” he said. 

If elected, Lee said he would like to join the Natural Resources and Veterans’ Affairs committees, given the importance of land issues in the district and its large population of veterans. Horsford sits on Ways & Means and the Armed Services Committee.

Lee said he does not support the Clark County lands bill, a proposal from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) to release more federal land in the Las Vegas Valley for development in exchange for permanently protecting about 2 million acres of land in Southern Nevada for conservation purposes. Instead, Lee said he would like to see federal land in the Las Vegas Valley transferred to the state and then auctioned off, with certain parcels reserved for municipalities for charter schools, Veterans Affairs facilities and affordable housing.

“Coming from a mayor's position, I was handcuffed that I could not do more of the better things that our community needed because of the availability of land and to zone it properly,” Lee said.

IMMIGRATION

Immigration and the border have also proven to be a key issue in the race. Rather than avoid the border, an area that voters trust Republicans more on, Horsford mentioned it in his first ad, saying he worked in a bipartisan manner to secure more funding for the border. 

He frequently mentions his support of the bipartisan border bill, which failed in the Senate after Republicans, following Trump’s lead, voted down a proposal to crack down on border crossings and restrict asylum. Trump panned it as bad policy and Republicans were hesitant to give Democrats any political victory on an issue critical to Trump’s chances to win the presidential election. 

Lee, like most Republicans, wants to see more border wall construction. But he also did not go as far as Trump, whose endorsement he has welcomed and whose rallies he has appeared at, in calling for mass deportation. He said although those who commit crimes should be deported, he wants to protect long-term undocumented residents of North Las Vegas.

“They're living the American life right now,” he said. “They're adding to the community by being good members, and the jobs that they do in our community are needed. I'm not for hurting any of those people.”

ABORTION

Horsford has repeatedly called Lee out on abortion. While running for governor in 2021, Lee said he was in favor of a “heartbeat bill,” which prohibits abortion once a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected, typically considered six weeks in Republican proposals — with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. 

Lee now says abortion is a state’s rights issue, although Nevada law could be superseded by a national abortion ban in Congress. In Nevada, he said he plans to vote against Question 6, which would enshrine the right to an abortion up to the point of fetal viability in the state’s Constitution. 

Horsford said Lee’s views are extreme and endanger Nevadans. 

“My opponent refers to himself as a 1950s guy, but the 1950s weren't all that great for a lot of women, a lot of people of color, a lot of hard working people in Nevada,” Horsford said. “And we're not going back. We're focused on moving Nevada forward.”

BLACK CONSTITUENTS

Lee also came under fire for comments he made at a September event, first obtained by The Huffington Post, disparaging Horsford’s CBC leadership and saying that, as the former mayor of North Las Vegas, he was “not worried about Black people” in the race. Fifteen percent of the district is Black.

When asked to clarify, Lee said he’s had support from Black voters in every race he’s run — though he referred to Black Americans as “Blacks” multiple times, which can be viewed as insensitive.

“That's never been an issue,” he said. “I'm not worried about do the Blacks know me well enough to vote for me and not Horsford. I get along very, very well. Thirty percent of our community is African American.”

In a post, Horsford said he was concerned with how all members of the district are doing, including Black people.