All 4 Clark County commissioners win re-election
Four Democratic incumbents on the Clark County Commission won re-election victories Tuesday night.
When final voting totals were released early Wednesday morning each commissioner had won by at least 14 percentage points over their Republican opponents, relatively unknown candidates.
County data showed Steve Sisolak winning the commission District A seat race with 57 percent of the vote. Marilyn Kirkpatrick won District B with 57 percent, and Larry Brown won District C with 58 percent.
Lawrence Weekly had the largest win in District D with 79 percent of the vote. In that district, the number of active voters registered as Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 4-to-1.
The sweep guaranteed that local government for more than 950,000 Nevada residents will stay completely Democratic for at least another two years. A Republican candidate has not won a seat on the commission since 2004.
Sisolak, Brown and Weekly face their third and final four-year terms on the commission. Kirkpatrick won the seat for the first time since Gov. Brian Sandoval appointed her to replace Tom Collins in August. She has served in the state Assembly.
Sisolak said the results encouraged him that county residents were happy with the commission’s past four years.
“We’re putting people back to work, we’re improving our roads, we’re improving the services that the county offers, and I think that this basically verifies that and validates what we’ve been doing,” he said. “I take that as a sign of encouragement, but there’s a lot of work left to do. And I know we’ll get back to work tomorrow and get back on with our business.”
On the campaign trail, the Democratic candidates said they were open to relaxing property tax caps to boost county revenue. Doing so, they said, would allow for more and better services to residents.
The Republican candidates challenged current tax rates, saying they are overburdening residents and the incumbents’ spending record are excessive.
The four Democratic candidates also exhibited the power of their incumbency in fundraising and spending. As of Oct. 14, they each had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, totaling to $2.3 million. The Republican candidates had spent a total of less than $20,000.
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.
