Shelley Berkley doing a radio interview with KNPR in September. (Berkley campaign photo)
Former U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley parlayed name recognition and a fundraising bonanza to defeat Las Vegas City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman in the non-partisan race for Las Vegas Mayor, in one of three hotly contested local government races in Southern Nevada. April Becker defeated former Assemblywoman Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod for a seat on the Clark County Commission, and political novice Dr. Monica Larson defeated Henderson Councilman Dan Shaw.
Berkley, who defeated Seaman by about 15,000 votes (53% to 47%), will be the first person not named Goodman to hold the title this century.
Oscar Goodman won election as mayor in 1999 and served until 2011, when his wife Carolyn took the reins.
Berkley inherits a city on the hook to developer Yohan Lowie for judgments and interest exceeding $235 million. Lowie sued when the council refused to let him build housing on the Badlands Golf Course, which is surrounded by luxury homes.
On Thursday, Seaman, who has two years remaining in her term, sent out an email congratulating Berkley, adding she’s confident “she will lead our city with dedication, and I stand ready to support and work alongside her as councilwoman of Ward 2 in any way I can to further the interests of all our residents.”
Seaman served one term in the Nevada Assembly in 2015, lost a race for state senate to Nicole Cannizzaro in 2016, and filed in the Republican primary for Congressional District 3 in 2018, but dropped out after Danny Tarkanian entered the race. She was elected to the council in a 2019 special election and later won election to a full term. None of her council colleagues endorsed her in the race for mayor.
Berkley, a Democrat who served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been out of politics since she lost a race for U.S. Senate in 2012 to then-Sen. Dean Heller.
She says addressing the city’s affordable housing and homeless crises will be among her priorities.
Berkley reported raising about $2 million as of Sept. 30, and Seaman reported raising $1.4 million.
Former Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong defeated Cameron “CH” Miller by about 1,700 votes (53% to 47%) to win an open seat in Ward 5. Current Councilman Cedric Crear unsuccessfully ran for mayor, leaving the Ward 5 seat open. He was elected in a 2018 special election and won a full term the following year.
April Becker, a Republican attorney and developer, defeated Assemblywoman Shannon-Bilbray by a margin of 9,000 votes – 53% to 47% – to win a seat on the Clark County Commission. She’ll be the first Republican to sit on the board since Bruce Woodbury succumbed to term limits in 2008.
Becker, an attorney and the wife of developer Barry Becker, raised at least $570,000 in campaign contributions, including $60,000 from a dozen entities located at 50 Jones Blvd, a location owned by one of the 17 corporations Becker lists on her financial disclosure as a source of household income. She also received $5,000 from each of a dozen political action committees (PACS) registered at the same address as Laborers Union 872.
It was Becker’s third try for elected office. In 2020, she lost a race by 631 votes to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, and alleged Democrats cheated.
In 2022, Becker lost a race for the U.S. House of Representatives against Rep. Susie Lee, a Democrat, by a ten-point margin.
Bilbray-Axelrod, the daughter of former U.S. Rep. James Bilbray, who represented Southern Nevada in Congress from 1987 to 1995, is a four-term state assemblywoman first elected in 2016. She raised $346,000 as of Sept. 30.
The seat is being vacated by Commissioner Ross Miller, who chose not to run for re-election.
In other commission races, incumbent William McCurdy easily defeated David J. Gomez in District D; Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick won a third term, defeating Jesse Welsh by almost 30 percentage points in District B: and Commissioner Michael Naft (Dist. A) was leading Ryan Hamilton by just under two points on Thursday.
In Henderson, Dr. Monica Larson, who moved to Southern Nevada two years ago from California, defeated longtime businessman and incumbent Dan Shaw by a little more than 5,000 votes – 56% to 44%.
Larson, the first Black person elected to the council, campaigned on a platform of public safety over development. She was endorsed by Councilwoman Carrie Cox and former Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen. Shaw’s campaign was marred by reports of numerous predatory lending lawsuits filed against him, as well as allegations that he does not live in Henderson. Shaw, who was endorsed by Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero, maintains that he does.