Voters reject Southern Nevada school board candidates backed by Moms for Liberty

Two years ago, President Donald Trump's red wave trickled into the Clark County School Board races and propelled two candidates who campaigned on culture war issues to victories. 

The same did not happen this election. Although two similar candidates supported by a conservative parents group, Moms for Liberty, made it to the general election, neither succeeded. If they had won, there would have been four trustees on the board aligned with the organization, which has advocated to ban books that include sexual themes and opposed policies that support LGBTQ+ students. But its base was not enough to beat the Democratic incumbents in this election's blue tsunami. 

Several incumbents on boards overseeing K-12 and higher education systems are on track to be re-elected, according to early results posted Thursday afternoon. 

Three Board of Regents incumbents have a comfortable lead in their races, while a fourth is facing a tight race. But the most surprising regent race has been in District 5, featuring former Democratic state lawmaker Mo Denis. Despite being in Nevada politics for almost 20 years, name recognition wasn't enough to secure Denis the win against a Nevada State University staff member and political newcomer.

Meanwhile, a UNR fitness director is in the lead for the sole Washoe County School Board race on the ballot for the general election. 

Clark County School Board

District D

Brenda Zamora, a deputy director for a nonprofit focused on reproductive rights, is projected to win the District D race. Zamora, the incumbent, will defeat David Gomez, a local nonprofit leader and education advocate. 

Gomez's supporters included Nevada Veterans Association, the Nevada Young Republicans and the Moms for Liberty Clark County chapter. In line with the conservative parents group, Gomez has spoken out against a district policy that provides support for LGBTQ+ students. 

Zamora was elected to the position in 2022. She's a mother of three, including two Clark County School District (CCSD) students, and the daughter of immigrants. Her platform included holding the superintendent accountable for implementing the board's goals and plans for schools and prioritizing students, parents and staff's voices. 

Zamora's supporters included union groups, including Nevada State Education Association, which represents teachers and support staff statewide and Hispanics in Politics. 

Zamora, who identifies as a liberal Democrat, said in a Thursday interview that during the campaign trail, voters who are on the opposite side of the political spectrum told her they appreciated how focused she was on students and that she didn't bring partisan politics to the dais. 

"I think I've done a really good job in the past few years of raising the questions of what community members want to hear, and I am committed to continuing to do that," she said.

District D encompasses Downtown Las Vegas and the northeast valley.

District F

Irene Bustamante Adams, a former Democratic state lawmaker, is projected to be re-elected to the District F seat on the Clark County School Board. 

She had a double digit lead in the District F race against Rob Hutchinson, who recently retired as the facility director for the Clark County School District. 

Bustamante Adams was elected to the school board in 2022. She is also the deputy director and chief strategy officer for Workforce Connections, Southern Nevada's local workforce development board.

Bustamante Adams was the only school board candidate endorsed by the politically powerful Clark County Education Association (CCEA), the official bargaining unit for the district's teachers. Hutchinson was backed by CCEA's rival union, the Nevada State Education Association. 

She said in a Thursday statement she plans to continue working on improving student achievement. 

District G

Linda Cavazos, who has held the District G seat since she was first appointed in 2017, is the projected winner of her race against Paul Casey, an entertainment production businessman, former substitute teacher and father of a district student.

Cavazos is a part-time therapist and a former Clark County high school teacher and UNLV adjunct professor. She was endorsed by groups such as NSEA, Planned Parenthood and the Armed Forces Chamber. 

In addition to the Moms for Liberty Clark County chapter, Casey, a registered Republican, was endorsed by the Nevada Veterans Association and the Clark County Republican Party.  

In 2018, Cavazos won her first full term on the board and was re-elected in 2022. This will be her last term in the office. 

Although the office is nonpartisan, Cavazos, a registered Democrat, said in a Thursday interview that she had more voters asking about her political affiliation than in previous cycles. She partly attributes the blue wave to her victory. 

"I think that more than any other time, because of what's going on in our country and in the concerns, I think that it was most definitively a factor," she said. "When I look at the numbers of votes that I received this time around and the margin of votes, it's huge."

Board of Regents

District 2 

Jennifer McGrath, the incumbent, is ahead in the race for the board's District 2 seat. McGrath, an attorney and law firm cofounder, was appointed to the board in 2025 by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R). She ran against Patrick Villa, a math professor at the College of Southern Nevada who has previously served on the college's faculty senate and chair of its math and business departments. As of Wednesday morning, McGrath led the race by more than 20 percentage points, according to early results. 

Villa's supporters include the Nevada Faculty Alliance. McGrath's campaign website doesn't list endorsements. 

District 3

Byron Brooks, a managing partner at a bail bonds service in Las Vegas, is on track to win re-election, with a more than 20 percentage-point lead in the race for the board's District 3 seat against Erik Swendseid, principal of a Las Vegas architecture firm. 

Brooks was elected to the board in 2020. He was endorsed by several elected officials, including Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley, Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero and state Sen. Carrie Buck (R-Henderson). 

Swendseid's supporters included the Nevada Faculty Alliance, Vegas Chamber and Veterans in Politics. 

District 5

Stephanie Molina, a political newcomer and Nevada State University staff member, is in the lead in the Board of Regents' District 5 race against Mo Denis, a former longtime Democratic state lawmaker.

Molina is a workforce program coordinator at the Henderson-based university. Molina has never held elected office and did not list any donations on her campaign finance report. In contrast, Denis served as a Democratic state lawmaker for nearly two decades and reported raising nearly $53,000 since January, according to his latest campaign finance report. Denis, the first Latino Senate majority leader, was endorsed by CCEA, NSEA and the Nevada Faculty Alliance. 

Molina said in a Thursday statement she originally felt unsure about her chance of winning, especially during the primary when it was a six-way race, but is now encouraged about the results. 

"Ultimately, I do believe that my experience working within Nevada's higher education system gave voters confidence that I understand both its challenges and opportunities," she said.

The position is currently held by Patrick Boylan, who lost in the primary in a four-way race. Boylan had faced calls to resign in 2024 after referring to female transgender athletes as "men masquerading as women."

District 8 

The District 8 race is between incumbent Pete Goicoechea, a former Republican lawmaker who served in both chambers of the Legislature for 22 years, and Lori Lane, who has worked in the entertainment industry for 25 years. The race was still tight as of Thursday after, showing Goicoechea in the lead.  

Goicoechea was appointed to the board by Lombardo in 2024 to fill a seat vacated by Shelly Cruz-Crawford, who went on to serve as a state senator. He had more than $33,000 cash on hand, according to his October campaign finance report. 

Lane is a political newcomer who did not raise money for the campaign and does not have any endorsements. Her experience ranges from working in labor relations at Warner Bros. Studios, assisting with claims and negotiations for various unions, to head of special projects at Cartoon Network Studios, where she recruited new artists, conducted portfolio reviews and produced several large-scale projects.

The winner of the race will serve in the office for the remainder of Cruz-Crawford's term, which ends in 2028. 

District 10 

The incumbent for the board's District 10 seat, Joe Arrascada, had a double-digit lead over his challenger, Peter Reed, a UNR professor of public health and director of the Sanford Center for Aging, as of early results Thursday afternoon. 

Arrascada was elected to the office in 2020. He's a retired Department of Veteran Affairs worker who co-owns a local community service agency in Reno. 

Reed was endorsed by the Nevada Faculty Alliance. 

Washoe County School Board

District F 

Sheena Harvey, UNR's director of fitness and recreational sports, is projected to be the winner of the only Washoe County School Board race on the November ballot, the at-large District F seat. 

Harvey, who also works as a UNR adjunct professor, ran against Brooke Westlake, the director of sales and business for Atria Senior Living, an assisted living facility. This is Westlake's second time running and losing the race for this office. 

District F covers the eastern part of the county, including Sparks and parts of central and south Reno.

The office is currently held by Trustee Adam Mayberry, who was elected to the Sparks City Council during the June primary. 

Harvey's endorsements include the Nevada State Education Association and the local affiliate, the Washoe Education Association. Brooke Westlake's endorsements include the Washoe County Republican Party Central Committee and Turning Point Action.