The Las Vegas City Council unanimously appointed Kara Kelley on Wednesday to fill a vacancy on the council left after Ward 2 representative Victoria Seaman took a job with the Trump administration.

Kelley, 57, who was selected out of 39 eligible applicants, is the former CEO of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the first female leader in its history, and currently serves as the vice chair of the Colorado River Commission of Nevada. She will be sworn in Sept. 30. 

Here’s more about her background.

Las Vegas native

During a hearing Wednesday in front of city council, Kelley said her family had a “quintessential” Las Vegas story. According to Kelley, her family arrived in 1955 to look for more work opportunities before she was born, and they found those opportunities in the service and hospitality industry. She said this “blue collar heritage” shaped her values — hard work, giving back and improving the lives of others. 

A graduate of Valley High School with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from UNLV, Kelley said she’s been in Las Vegas her entire life. She is married to attorney Paul Larsen and has two adult daughters. 

In a conversation with The Nevada Independent, Kelley said she saw the opportunity to serve her community as the interim city council member but has no desire to run for political office, including the Ward 2 race in 2026. 

“I was intrigued because it was an appointment and not an election,” Kelley said. “I don’t really have the desire to be an elected official. The most important thing for me is that the constituents of Ward 2 felt that they were continued to be served by their representative.” 

Career and Colorado River Commission

Kelley runs the consulting firm The Kelley Company, which was started after she left the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and advises boards and businesses on governance and business development. Her resume also includes leading the Nevada Sesquicentennial Commission, which coordinated a statewide celebration in 2014 of 150 years of statehood.

Since 2015, she has been a member of the Colorado River Commission of Nevada, which was established ahead of the construction of the Hoover Dam in purpose of “safeguarding, managing, and maximizing the utilization of Nevada’s water and hydropower resources,” according to the committee's 2024 report. The commission also facilitates power delivery to Southern Nevada Water Authority. 

Board members are either appointed by the governor or the Southern Nevada Water Authority — Kelley was appointed by the governor. As vice chair, Kelley said she was not paid a salary but received a small stipend of around $700. 

Las Vegas Chamber role

Kelley spent 15 years working for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, including multiple years at the helm. In her application, she touted growing membership by 30 percent and building consensus among a diverse group of more than 7,000 members.

Kelley said she advocated for raising the county sales tax by 25 cents to fund a second intake straw for Lake Mead, allowing drinking water to be pulled from the lake and funneled to Las Vegas. The proposal passed with a 74 percent voter approval, according to Kelley. 

Kelley also experienced some controversies as the chamber’s leader. Under her leadership in 2008, the chamber released a study showing how government workers in Nevada were paid 31 percent more than their peers in other states and 28 percent than those in the private sector, according to a 2009 article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

The same article also stated that several union leaders ran an advertisement in February 2009 that pointed out Kelley’s $274,000 salary as chief executive of the chamber, accusing chamber executives of making “far more” than public employees. Kelley was CEO of the chamber from January 2001 to April 2009, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Political affiliations

The council role is nonpartisan and Kelley is a lifelong registered nonpartisan. 

“I wasn’t raised in a political family and I didn’t really understand what it meant to be a Democrat or a Republican,” Kelley told The Nevada Independent. “And then, as I grew and got into a career, the fact that I was a nonpartisan served me well. Now I’m living in a time where I feel good about being a nonpartisan.” 

She has a modest political contribution history, according to Nevada secretary of state records, which show she donated to Aaron Ford’s campaign for attorney general in 2022, Jim Gibson’s county commissioner run in 2017 and twice to former City Councilman Cedric Crear’s campaign in 2023. 

Kelley’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows a person interested in politics, clean energy, water issues, as well as urban development projects in downtown Las Vegas. She retweeted content criticizing President Donald Trump in 2016, before he was elected to his first term, but has not since posted anything about national politics. She last posted from the account in 2022. 

In interviews, Kelley said she would not run to be elected to a full term representing Ward 2 once her appointed term expires either in July or December 2026. There is a nonbinding agreement for city council members not to run for a new term after a special appointment. 

The council had previously opted to fill the job, which comes with an annual salary of $108,000, through an appointment rather than holding a special election to fill the role.