Just 1 Nevada lawmaker lost re-election this primary cycle. He blames a 'dark money smear.'

On the heels of a razor-thin loss in his re-election bid, Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas) told The Nevada Independent he doesn't regret anything — including actions he took in his leadership roles that alienated unions, NV Energy and other special interest groups and potentially contributed to his defeat.

Watts, 38, was seeking his fifth term representing Assembly District 15 but lost in the June 9 primary to Miguel Dávila, 34. Winning by fewer than 50 votes, Dávila became the first primary challenger to oust a Democratic legislator since 2012.

"I did what I thought was in the best interest of the people of the state," said Watts, who in 2025 chaired the influential Assembly Growth and Infrastructure Committee that deals with transportation and energy bills. "Obviously, I wasn't expecting to lose, but I don't make decisions based on what I think is popular. I make decisions based on what I think is right."

With no Republicans or third-party candidates running in the district — which spans sections of Chinatown, the Strip and downtown Las Vegas — Dávila will become the district's next assemblymember.

Dávila previously worked in the offices of late Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and his successor, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and decided last spring that he wanted to run for office. His union credentials — he's a member of SEIU Local 1107 and a graduate of the AFL-CIO's labor candidate training program — made him the favored pick for many of the state's labor groups, which grew frustrated with Watts after decisions last year related to autonomous vehicles, film tax credits and craft breweries.

"We would have supported anybody but Howard," said Tommy Blitsch, the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters 631. But he emphasized that Dávila "wasn't just, you know, 'Anybody but Howard.' He was a legitimate candidate who knows that district, that has a labor background, that wants to get into politics." 

Dávila is a senior urban planner with the Regional Transportation Commission of Nevada who emigrated to Las Vegas from Venezuela at the age of 15 and earned degrees at UNLV and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

His win was a surprise to many. Watts has deep roots in the district — he was born in AD15 — and graduated from UNLV before getting his start in politics as an activist. He had the backing of the Assembly Democratic Caucus and raised nearly four times more money than Dávila in the first quarter of 2026. 

Dávila says he won by assembling a diverse coalition that included immigrant advocacy organizations, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (where Watts formerly worked) and unions with liberal and moderate political leanings. He had a tireless canvassing operation, personally knocking on doors nearly every day and speaking to voters in English and Spanish about his goal of being an easy-to-reach local representative.

"There was some dissatisfaction with Howard, but it's one thing to endorse a candidate, another to actually invest resources, time and energy trying to get that candidate to the finish line," Dávila said. He said that the credit for his win goes to his union, Make The Road Nevada, the building trades unions, and the AFL-CIO, "in that order." 

Watts says Dávila benefited from dirty tactics. A PAC partially funded by NV Energy and assisted by unions began sending negative campaign mailers in late May, on the eve of early voting, featuring AI-generated images of Watts with criticisms of his "all-expense-paid trips" to "exotic locations."

"I ran a clean campaign focused on my record, values and vision for the district," Watts told The Indy. "I remain proud of all of those things even in the face of this dark money smear campaign that resulted in me coming just short in my bid for re-election." 

Dávila told The Indy he had nothing to do with the mailers.

Multiple labor and political insiders, including some who endorsed Dávila, said they were personally fond of Watts but that he faced an uphill battle after the damage done to his standing with unions. 

Other sources said the Assembly Democratic Caucus had its hands full in this year's primaries — 10 Assembly Democrats faced challengers — which split resources and put some incumbents at risk. 

Watts wasn't the only Democratic incumbent targeted by labor groups this year, but he was the one targeted most aggressively. 

"That was the one race labor was the most unified on," said Susie Martinez, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. "Everybody came together on that."

Watts' campaign also had a strong ground game — he was also knocking on doors daily, he said — but he told The Indy he thinks he needed more external and organized support.

"We took this race seriously, and we campaigned hard every day, but I think a lot of other people underestimated it, and did not put the resources to support our campaign," he said.

Unions' frustrations

After the 2025 legislative session, a coalition of unions turned on Watts, who had influence over key labor priorities as chair of the infrastructure committee. Citing their feelings that Watts had dismissed their perspectives, these unions — some of which had endorsed him in previous cycles — didn't hold back when it came to boosting Dávila. 

The AFL-CIO, the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 were just some of the groups that knocked doors on Dávila's behalf, dropped his campaign literature around the district and sent text messages and physical mail to thousands of voters. Watts was one of the 17 lawmakers who lost Culinary's support in 2024 after his vote against extending a pandemic-era requirement to clean hotel rooms daily.

Watts previously told The Indy he was frustrated by the narrative that he was anti-labor, given the work he's done in the Legislature to secure workplace protections and raise the minimum wage. 

One key contributor to his losing favor with unions was his "no" vote on the controversial film tax credits bill that failed to pass in the Legislature's fall special session.

Watts was one of three Democratic lawmakers, alongside Sen. Edgar Flores (D-Las Vegas) and Assm. Jovan Jackson (D-North Las Vegas), who the building trades unions sought to oust in the primaries. Flores and Jackson won by comfortable margins. 

Dávila has played relatively coy about the film tax credit bill, despite some of the unions that lobbied hardest for the bill contributing nearly one-third of the $14,000 he reported on his most recent campaign finance filing. The Indy previously reported that he had expressed conflicting views on the bill, which Watts said at the time raised questions about Dávila's integrity.

Other issues marring Watts' reputation with unions were related to his interactions with Nevada's Teamsters affiliates. 

Watts introduced a bill last year, AB404, proposing changes to the distribution rules for craft breweries. It drew swift criticism from Teamsters, which represents the Nevada truck drivers that distribute bulk beer orders. Watts amended the bill to reflect these concerns but Blitsch and others said the damage to their relationship had already been done.

Teamsters' frustrations were further exacerbated when one of their priority bills did not make it out of the committee Watts chaired. The Teamsters and the AFL-CIO had pushed hard for SB395, which would have required human drivers in all autonomous trucks and buses in Nevada until 2035. Watts' committee advanced the bill without recommending it for a floor vote — a rare move.

"You're the chair, you control the agenda, he intentionally let it die," said Jason Gateley, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 14, accusing Watts of siding with "Big Tech."

Some Teamsters and AFL-CIO representatives were more cautious, saying Watts hadn't done enough to support the bill but that the majority of the blame lay with Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas). 

Blitsch, the Teamsters 631 leader, said he believed Yeager "didn't have the courage to run again" but would have been the group's top target in the primaries if he had.

Watts said his role in the bill's failure was "overstated," citing his belief that there weren't enough votes for it in the full Assembly. 

Blitsch and other labor representatives also said they had heard rumors about Watts making disparaging comments about labor groups and their bills. 

Watts told The Indy such rumors were false.

Martinez, the AFL-CIO leader and one of Watts' former Assembly colleagues, said she always liked Watts but believed he and other lawmakers should take a more "open door" approach to labor in general.

Watts maintained the support of some major unions in his 2026 re-election bid, including the Clark County Education Association, the Nevada State Education Association and the American Federation of Service and Municipal Employees, which wrote in a statement that Watts "spent his time in the Legislature fighting for working families."

But most labor groups coalesced around Dávila, in part because unlike Watts he was a union member.

Environmental issues, ugly attacks

Environmental groups are particularly mourning the loss of Watts, who previously served as chair of the Assembly's Natural Resources Committee and for whom energy and water issues were top legislative priorities. 

His environmental record includes sponsoring and passing bills aiming to recycle more water by shifting Las Vegas away from septic tanks (AB220), banning the irrigation of decorative turf (AB356) and expanding rooftop solar for affordable housing units (AB458). 

"There are a number of issues Assemblymember Watts was uniquely positioned to lead on, and was leading on, and his loss in the Legislature is going to be felt throughout the state in the policy outcomes we get in 2027," said Olivia Tanager, executive director of the Nevada branch of the Sierra Club.

More recently, Watts — considered one of the Legislature's most progressive lawmakers — had sought to hold data center companies accountable and pressed executives in meetings earlier this year on the centers' water usage.

That's why he found it all the more perplexing, he told The Indy, when mailers arrived at his doorstep accusing him of being bankrolled by data center companies. 

The PAC that sent the mailers — Nevadans for Reliable, Renewable and Affordable Energy — was established by IBEW 1245 and IBEW 396, unions in the AFL-CIO family that represent electrical workers employed by NV Energy. 

One of the PAC's officers, IBEW 1245 member Hunter Stern, confirmed to The Indy that NV Energy helped pay for the mailers and that "unions" — without clarifying which — crafted their messaging and content.

The PAC has lobbied on behalf of NV Energy in the past, spending nearly $4 million in 2018 to defeat a ballot measure that NV Energy opposed because it would have ended the company's monopoly. One of the PAC's listed contacts, labor lobbyist Gail Tuzzolo, also previously worked for Southwest Gas.

The PAC has also donated to Watts, most recently giving him $500 in 2024.

"It is ironic, to say the least, that the PAC seized on the unpopularity of data centers in their attacks when I was leading efforts to limit the impacts of data centers on our water and energy, and this is coming from IBEW whose members actually build data centers," said Watts.

Financial records show that since 2018, Watts received $9,000 and $5,000 from the Nevada-based data center companies Switch and Lumen, respectively. 

Watts has historically butted heads with NV Energy, and in campaign ads this cycle he bragged about pushing to make the company "pay back every single penny" after it overcharged consumers. 

In 2023, Watts negotiated with the utility for months over a proposal to expand in-state energy-generating resources and strengthen the company's resource planning process. Watts' bill passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) — but was opposed by NV Energy, which said it didn't do enough to support the company.

"Ultimately, the winner on Tuesday night was NV Energy," said Tanager, but added she's also excited to work with Dávila.

Former state Sen. and Assm. Chris Brooks (D-Las Vegas), whose Assembly district overlapped with what's now AD15 and who left the Legislature to work in the private sector on renewable energy projects, endorsed Dávila and door-knocked on his behalf. 

Along with alleging he was in the pockets of big corporations, the attack mailers also accused Watts of lying about having a job and of using taxpayer dollars to fund frivolous vacations and meals.

Watts owns a consulting firm, incorporated in Las Vegas in 2018. His campaign finance records show he has gone on multiple international trips, but Watts said that those were subsidized by external organizations rather than taxpayers. He also says that two $3,000 dinners were appreciation events for his committee's members and staffers. 

The negative mailers also featured quotes praising Dávila from the leaders of Make The Road and SEIU Local 1107. Representatives for both groups said they were not aware of the mailers until after they were sent out, but Stern, the PAC's representative, wrote in a statement that SEIU was "one of the unions that contributed to this effort." 

He also said that the mailers were "not what decided this election. Miguel Dávila campaigned very hard and contested every vote." 

Tanager said that despite her sadness about losing Watts, she trusts Dávila on environmental issues and is eager to work with him.

Dávila, a former member of the Sierra Club, says anyone worried about losing an environmental leader has "nothing to be afraid of." 

He cited his urban planning background, saying that he believed "one of the strongest possible ways of challenging pollution of our water, of our air, and the excessive exploitation of our resources and natural resources, is through urban planning policy."

A new vision

Dávila says he hopes to exemplify a new form of Democratic leadership by doing constant outreach to voters and especially those living in the district's poorer neighborhoods.

His campaign was backed by Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a group that previously employed and endorsed Watts, in part because the group's members were so impressed by his pledge to focus on community engagement.

"We might actually do a year-round canvassing operation, obviously not as exhaustive and aggressive," said Dávila.

He added that he hopes to mend fences with Watts' supporters and to speak with Watts himself. Dávila left Watts a voicemail the night he conceded, but it hasn't been returned.

The 2026 cycle saw the most challenges to legislative incumbents since 2016. In both years, 15 incumbent lawmakers faced primary opponents. Incumbent losses are rare, and Watts is the first Democratic incumbent to lose since 2012, when former Sen. Patricia Spearman (D-North Las Vegas) beat former state Sen. John Lee (D-North Las Vegas) in Senate District 1.

Watts says he worries his primary loss may make Nevada lawmakers more wary about getting on the wrong side of rich and powerful groups. 

"What are people going to stick up for, and stand up for, and fight on, even when it's hard?" he said.