Carvalho leads in Nevada Board of Regents race

The current chair of the Nevada Board of Regents, Amy Carvalho, was ahead of her challenger as of Wednesday morning. Two new faces — Carlos Fernandez and Aaron Bautista — also were ahead in their districts.

The nonpartisan board oversees Nevada’s four community colleges, two universities, a research institute and a state college.

Carvalho ahead of Maxham

In District 12, incumbent chair Carvalho was ahead of challenger Jonathan Maxham as of Wednesday, with 59.3 percent of the votes compared with Maxham’s 40.7 percent.

Carvalho originally ran for the seat six years ago because she was passionate about education and giving back to the community, and hopes that in continuing her tenure, she can provide stability to the board. She hopes to strengthen the relationship between higher education and kindergarten through 12th grade.

“I’m honored to serve 4 more years as a Regent. I support and trust the voters,” she wrote in a message.

Maxham, a holistic doctor who incorporates eastern and western medicine into his practice, and who formerly served in the Air Force, told the Review-Journal that his platform was “basically about red, white and blue.” He said he would like to improve the budget, curriculum and student safety, but provided no specific plans.

Maxham said that he was encouraged by the support he received in his first time running.

“The results show there’s interest in new perspectives, and I look forward to continuing to advocate for the issues that matter most to our constituents, regardless of the outcome,” he wrote in a message Tuesday evening.

‘Feeling really good’

As of Wednesday, Fernandez was ahead of his opponent Matthew Bowen in District 1. Fernandez had 57.2 percent of the votes compared to Bowen’s 42.8 percent.

Fernandez, executive director of the American Institute of Architects — Las Vegas and Nevada Chapters, ran on bridging the gap between education and business and ensuring students were ready for the workforce.

“I’m feeling really good,” Fernandez said Tuesday night. “I think that my campaign really did the best it could to reach the community, and to recognize what voting for Regent means.”

Bowen’s campaign was largely invisible. He did not have a clear campaign website and did not respond to multiple requests from the Las Vegas Review-Journal for an interview.

Fernandez did say he was a bit surprised to see that his opponent had received as many votes as he did, but was proud of the efforts his own campaign made to reach voters.

“We did the best we could to reach as many people as we can,” he said.

As for his time on the board, Fernandez said he was excited to work with the community and figure out how to get the work done.

Aiming to make college more accessible

In District 4, Bautista was ahead of his opponent Tonia Holmes-Sutton as of Wednesday morning, with 58.1 percent of the votes compared to Holmes-Sutton’s 41.9 percent.

A special education teacher in east Las Vegas, Bautista said he wants to make college more accessible and affordable, especially for the many students in his community who don’t have plans to go to college.

Bautista is also the only Regent candidate endorsed by the Clark County Education Association, which has praised his emphasis on programs to help people become teachers in Nevada, as well as his focus on students.

Bautista could not immediately be reached for comment.

Holmes-Sutton, the chair of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority, ran on increasing opportunities for students, specifically in expanding dual credit systems, which allow high school students to earn college credits while in high school.

During the campaign, she also spoke out about stalking she had experienced. She said that while she was disappointed with the results, she was proud of her campaign and the ability to run.

“We hustled, we were out there, we sought to inform people. Certainly it’s not the outcome that we had hoped for, but we stayed committed to the work and to the leadership, and certainly continue to collaborate with one another to move Nevada forward,” Holmes-Sutton said.

The biggest weakness, she said, was a misunderstanding about what the board’s role is. She said her opponent’s focus on literacy rates was more relevant to K-12 education.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X.