A significant majority of all votes cast in Nevada’s 2025 legislative session were unanimous or along party lines.

But a much smaller share of the more than 40,000 votes cast during the session involved a legislator voting against a majority of their party.

Legislators decided to not side with most members of their own party in about 1.5 percent of total votes cast during the session, according to a Nevada Independent analysis of legislative voting data.

Of the more than 15,000 individual votes cast by the 23 Republican lawmakers, 408 votes were in support of bills that the majority of their party opposed. Meanwhile, of 26,000 individual votes that 40 legislative Democrats cast this year, 191 were against bills that a majority of their party supported. 

The data shows how lawmakers' decisions are not always driven purely by party affiliation. 

Sometimes, bipartisan opposition dooms a bill — evidenced by two failed floor votes on AB500, a proposal from Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) to create a new type of payments bank in the state. Other times, bipartisanship is what saves a bill, such as when numerous Republican yes votes helped the Assembly narrowly vote to advance a film tax credit bill and a measure to legalize medical aid-in-dying, though neither proposal ultimately became law.

Democrats hold significant majorities in both chambers, which allow them to decide which bills are put up for a floor vote, meaning that measures that could divide Democrats are less likely to receive a vote. Republicans also have a greater political incentive to cross party lines given that Democrats have final say over which bills advance.

The nearly 600 party-defying votes marked a slight decrease from the 2023 session, when lawmakers voted against a majority of their party 681 times. The median legislator bucked their party six times this session.

But who in the Legislature was most likely to go against their party? 

REPUBLICANS

Sens. John Steinbeck and Lori Rogich

Leading the party-bucking pack were Sens. John Steinbeck (R-Las Vegas) and Lori Rogich (R-Las Vegas), two freshman senators who established themselves throughout the session as most willing to divert from their caucus.

They were the only Republicans to vote for about a dozen bills, including the proposals to require insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization (SB217) and prohibit health insurers from only using artificial intelligence to deny or modify a prior authorization request (SB128). Both measures were vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo.

Steinbeck bucked his party 51 times (the most of any lawmaker regardless of party), and on eight bills, he was the only Republican senator in support. These included bills to expand existing harassment statutes pertaining to public officials to apply to political candidates (AB123) and the proposal to allow other district courts — not just the one in Carson City — to hear cases involving elections or state laws (AB490), the latter of which was vetoed.

Steinbeck’s district has the second-smallest Republican lean among GOP-held Senate districts. It is 31 percent Republican, 27 percent Democrat and the rest of the registered voters either belong to a minor or no political party.

In an interview, Steinbeck said he relies on the perspectives of his caucus’ leaders but his voting decisions are based on the bill’s “own merits.”

“I'm not concerned with ideology,” he said. “I'm concerned with the results.”

He added that he sometimes changed his vote based on floor speeches, such as Sen. Dina Neal’s (D-North Las Vegas) impassioned remarks in support of her bill related to relocating residents of the blighted Windsor Park neighborhood.

“I'm not for government being that involved in picking which people that have disasters we kind of pay for and which ones we don't,” Steinbeck said. “She just made a very compelling case that the government had failed these people and for many, many years.”

Rogich went against her party 47 times. She was the only Republican in either chamber to vote for several bills, including the resolution urging Congress to prohibit federal immigration officials from entering schools or places of worship for the purpose of enforcing immigration laws and a bill to require that the secretary of state adopt regulations to ensure that election officials perform their duties in a timely manner.

Rogich, who said she was unavailable for an interview, previously told The Indy that “I believe in voting based on what is best for our community, even if it means stepping beyond traditional party boundaries."

Rogich’s district has a Democratic lean: 28 percent Democratic, 24 percent Republican and the rest affiliated with a minor or no political party. She won her general election last year by about 1,000 votes.

Assm. Gregory Koenig

Assm. Gregory Koenig (R-Fallon) was the GOP assemblymember most likely to go against his party, doing so 28 times.

It’s the second straight cycle that Koenig has held that title after bucking the GOP majority 31 times during the 2023 session, when he was a freshman legislator.

He was the only Republican in either chamber to vote for AB278, the proposal to designate July as “Muslim American Heritage Month” in Nevada, and one of two GOP assemblymembers to vote for the bill to designate October as “Menopause Awareness Month” in Nevada (SB297). 

He was also one of three Republicans in either chamber to support AB480, a vetoed bill that adopts a federal housing discrimination standard. It would have made certain acts of housing discrimination illegal, even if the actions were not meant to be discriminatory. 

“I think a lot of the people want to vote no unless they have a good reason to vote yes, and my kind of philosophy is I kind of want to vote yes unless there's a good reason to vote no,” Koenig said in an interview. “There's 15 percent of the far right's ideals that I could never compromise and there's 15 percent of the far left that I could never espouse, but that leaves 70 percent in the middle that I think we can agree on a lot more often than not.”

Notably, Koenig’s district has the second-lowest share of registered Democrats among any Assembly district.

Koenig acknowledged the GOP dominance in his district, but he referred back to his first campaign slogan of “conservative, common sense leadership” and his five bills signed into law this session, tied for the second most of any Republican.

“If my district wanted the loud voice and the far, far, far right, then then I'm probably not their guy,” he said.

Others

Rounding out the top list of Republican party-buckers were Sen. Ira Hansen (R-Sparks) and Assm. Rebecca Edgeworth (R-Las Vegas), each of whom bucked their party at least 25 times. 

Hansen was the only Republican in either chamber to vote for AB589, which would have prohibited a government agency from disclosing autism-related information under most circumstances and limited the sale of genetic information, such as DNA. He was also the only Republican to support AB488, which would have expanded record sealing for sex trafficking victims. Both proposals were vetoed by Lombardo.

Edgeworth was the only GOP assemblymember to vote for two bills: AB83, which would have created a day of observance of Larry Itliong, an American labor-rights leader, and SB285, a proposal related to increased standards for apprenticeships offering training for more than one construction trade, only the latter of which became law.

She was also one of two Republican assemblymembers to support the bill allowing unionized employees to use sick leave for reasons related to an immediate family member’s health and the proposal that would have prohibited schools from banning books. Lombardo vetoed both bills.

DEMOCRATS

The two Democrats who went against their party the most were Assms. Brittney Miller (D-Las Vegas) and Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno), who each did so 16 times.

Miller was the only Democrat to vote against AJR1, a proposed constitutional change which would have overhauled the state’s property tax system. She was also the only Democrat in either chamber to vote against AB533, which calls for a standardized open enrollment process for K-12 students seeking to attend schools outside of their zoned area. The latter bill became law, while the first stalled in the Senate.

In an email, Miller said she takes a “pragmatic approach” to voting and that “I never consider any vote I cast as for or against my democratic majority.” She added that she voted against AJR1 because she did not believe it was the right time for it — highlighting how it could affect the current housing market that many find unaffordable — and she opposed AB533 because of “an exhaustive number of questions and concerns about the policy and implementation.”

La Rue Hatch was one of two assemblymembers to vote against AJR8, a proposed constitutional amendment to create a business court in Nevada. It passed out of both houses.

Both assemblymembers were two of the four no votes on SB460, the comprehensive education reform bill negotiated by Lombardo and Cannizzaro and signed by the governor.

La Rue Hatch said in an email that her high tally is “a source of pride,” adding that “my constituents did not send me to Carson to be a rubber stamp for anyone's agenda.” 

On her vote against AJR8, she said she worried about adding appointed judges in a state that otherwise elects its judges, and she also opposed SB460 on the grounds that it “was too punitive without any of the actual supports needed to turn around schools,” specifically citing language for a new board to take over underperforming schools or districts.

Up next was Assm. Venicia Considine (D-Las Vegas), who went against the Democratic majority 12 times.

She was the only legislator to vote against two bills: AB474, which would implement an AI-powered app to connect SNAP recipients to food that would otherwise be wasted, and AB197, a proposal to protect the personal information of donors and members of nonprofits. 

She was also one of three lawmakers to oppose SB468, which made a $17 million appropriation for the transportation of charter school students. The latter two bills became law, while the first did not make it out of the Legislature.

This story was corrected on 7/2/2025 at 8:39 a.m. to note that AJR8 passed out of the Senate.