The close of Nevada’s nearly two-week-long candidate filing period on Friday marks the official start of campaign season, as the more than 950 candidates who filed prepare for the June 11 primary election. 

In a presidential election year that historically drives more voters to the ballot box, Nevada has the spotlight as the swing state weighs in on the anticipated competitive presidential and U.S. Senate elections as well as the 52 legislative races that will determine Gov. Joe Lombardo’s veto power in the 2025 legislative session.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Nevada’s three Democratic House representatives are facing a bevy of Republican challengers looking to take advantage of President Joe Biden’s poor approval ratings and the high cost of living, while Democrats campaign on the Inflation Reduction Act, a robust job market and progress on other social and economic issues. Notably, no Democrats filed to run against Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV). 

Though federal elections often receive the most attention, Nevada’s legislative elections are at the forefront of the 2024 election cycle as Lombardo seeks to protect his veto power by preventing Democratic supermajorities. 

Democrats already hold a 28-seat supermajority in the 42-member Assembly and are just one short of the 14 seats needed for a supermajority in the 21-member Senate. Excluding races not up in 2024 and those where only candidates of one political party filed, 43 legislative seats are still in play.

For a full list of candidates running in major races, check out the spreadsheet on our candidate filing live blog. Candidates have until March 26 to withdraw. Here are the highlights from the candidate filing period. 

FEDERAL RACES

U.S. Senate

Barring any candidate withdrawals, Nevada’s U.S. Senate race drew a field of 22 people — incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen and two Democrats, 13 Republicans and six non-major party candidates.

Four well-known contenders top the expansive Republican field:

• Sam Brown, the presumed front-runner and veteran who suffered severe burns while on active duty.
• Jeff Gunter, the former U.S. ambassador to Iceland under former President Donald Trump
• Walter A. "Tony" Grady Jr., who ran for lieutenant governor in 2022 but came second in the Republican primary with 24.9 percent of the vote. Grady is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and a retired FedEx pilot.
• Jim Marchant, the former Nevada assemblyman and secretary of state candidate

Other Republican candidates include Bill Conrad, a military veteran and founder and president of the National Association of Podcasters; perennial candidate Edward Hamilton; attorney Ronda Kennedy; asset manager Barry Cameron Lindemann; real estate broker Stephanie Phillips; engineering consultant Vincent Geronimo Rego, former Assemblyman Garn Mabey (R-Las Vegas); Gary A. Marinch, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2014; and Shawn White.

Rosen is running against two candidates in the Democratic primary — Troy Zakari Walker and Mike Schaefer. Schaefer lives in California and holds an elected position on a California tax board, but he’s based his campaign on a California appeals court ruling in 2000 that federal candidates do not have to be a resident of the district in which they’re seeking office until elected. Schaefer brought the case when he was a Nevada resident seeking to run in California.

Congressional District 1

The historically deep-blue district is now more competitive following the 2021 redistricting process, when the Democrat-controlled Legislature added more Republican voters by redrawing the district to include more of Henderson and Boulder City as part of a strategy to make the state’s two other swingy House districts more favorable to Democrats.

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) has held the seat since 2013 and is not facing a primary challenger this election cycle. Five Republicans and six minor party candidates filed to run for the seat.

Republicans running in District 1 include financial planner and retired Army Col. Mark Robertson, who lost to Titus in the 2022 general election. Other candidates include stand-up comedian Michael Boris; restaurant chain owner and operator Fleming Larsen; Jim Blockey, who ran for Congress in 1998 and 2000; and Evan Stone.

Congressional District 2

In Northern Nevada’s Congressional District 2, Amodei will face a primary challenge from Fred Simon, a Minden-based doctor who ran for governor in 2022. He’ll also face three other long-shot independent or third-party candidates in the general election, including Greg Kidd, a founding partner of Hard Yaka, an investment firm focused on portable identity, payments and marketplaces. Through Hard Yaka, Kidd was an adviser and early investor for a number of different companies, including the cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase, the stock trading app Robinhood and the social media platform Twitter.

Stock market research company GuruFocus estimates Kidd’s net worth is at least $40 million. 

No Democrats filed to run for the seat, a historical rarity. Over the last 40 years, 1998 marked the only other election when no Democratic candidate ran for the seat; then-Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) won re-election that year.

Congressional District 3

Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) faces just one primary challenger in her bid for a fourth consecutive term: RockAthena Brittain.

The district, which is typically the most competitive in Nevada, became more favorable to Democrats after the 2021 redistricting process. Seven GOP challengers are vying for a chance to unseat her, including former state Sen. Elizabeth Helgelien (R-Las Vegas), tax analyst Drew Johnson, former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz, video game music composer Martin O’Donnell, entrepreneur and poker player Brian Nadell, attorney Steve Schiffman and Steven London.

In 2022, Johnson made an unsuccessful bid for Clark County Commission District F, losing in the general election to Democratic incumbent Justin Jones by less than a percentage point. 

Schwartz, who served as state treasurer from 2015 to 2019, has run in nearly every election cycle in Nevada since 2012, losing multiple congressional bids. He previously ran in the Republican primary for the 3rd District in 2020, finishing second to Dan Rodimer.

One independent candidate, Jon Kamerath, has also filed to run in the election.

Congressional District 4

In wide-reaching District 4, which covers parts of rural Nevada and North Las Vegas, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) faces one primary opponent: Deshan Levy Shultz. 

John Lee, a former mayor of North Las Vegas who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 after switching his party registration from Democrat to Republican, is one of three Republicans to file for the seat. He’ll face Air Force veteran and businessman David Flippo and entrepreneur and accountant Bruce Frazey in the Republican primary.

Two other minor party candidates — mortgage company owner Russell Best, a member of the Independent American Party, and Timothy John Ferreira, a Libertarian — also filed to run in the election.

LEGISLATURE

Filings show six legislators (four Republicans and two Democrats) did not garner any challengers, virtually guaranteeing their re-election and return to the 2025 legislative session. Three of the legislative seats up for election this cycle (two Senate seats and one Assembly seat) only drew candidates from one party.

Forty-three seats are still in play, with candidates from different parties vying for success in the general election as Republicans attempt to stave off a veto-proof Democratic supermajority in both houses. The remaining seats are not up for election in 2024.

Democrats are expected to maintain legislative majorities after building in structural advantages in voter registration through the 2021 redistricting process. However, Democrats may face roadblocks as they attempt to gain a supermajority in both houses that would allow the party to override Lombardo’s veto authority.

The six legislative races with an incumbent running for re-election that failed to draw challengers are:

• Assembly District 14, which covers northeast Las Vegas, represented by Assemblywoman Erica Mosca (D-Las Vegas).
• Assembly District 19, which includes the eastern part of Henderson and stretches farther east past Lake Mead and Moapa Valley, represented by Assemblyman Toby Yurek (R-Henderson).
• Assembly District 22 in Southern Nevada, which includes portions of Henderson, represented by Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy (R-Henderson).
• Assembly District 23, which covers portions of Southern Nevada and encompasses parts of Boulder City and Laughlin, represented by Assemblywoman Danielle Gallant (R-Las Vegas).
• Assembly District 28, which includes Sunrise Manor and neighborhoods between Bonanza Road and parts of Cheyenne Avenue from Pecos Road to parts of North Hollywood Boulevard, represented by Assemblyman Reuben D’Silva (D-North Las Vegas).
• Assembly District 38, which includes Fernley, Fallon, Hawthorne, Yerington and parts of Tonopah, represented by Assemblyman Gregory Koenig (R-Fallon).

Three of the legislative seats up for election this cycle will be decided in the primary:

• Assembly District 7, where Assembly Democratic Caucus-endorsed candidate Tanya Flanagan is squaring off against fellow Democrat James Melvin Fennell.
• Senate District 4, where incumbent Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas), will face Regent Laura Perkins.
• Senate District 19, where former Assemblyman John Ellison (R-Elko), Nye County School Board member Chelsy Fischer, and health care executive and military veteran William Hockstedler will compete in a three-way GOP primary.  

STATEWIDE RACES

Supreme Court
Nevada Supreme Court Justices Elissa Cadish, Patricia Lee and Lidia Stiglich did not draw opponents in their runs for state Supreme Court, meaning the three will be automatically elected to a six-year term on the state’s highest court. For more on judicial candidate filing, which wrapped up in January, click here.

This story was updated on 3/20/24 at 8:55 a.m. to reflect that Darryl Baber, a member of the Libertarian Party, also filed to run for Assembly District 33, meaning Assemblyman Bert Gurr (R-Elko) will have a challenger. The filing was uploaded after the story was published because some counties allowed for paper filings as well as online systems.