Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick running for last term

If elected to another term, Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick said she wants to continue focusing on reducing traffic fatalities, addressing homelessness and curtailing the opiate crisis.

The Democratic incumbent is facing off against Libertarian Party candidate Jesse Welsh in November, when up to four of the seven commission positions could switch hands.

Welsh, who shares a name with the CEO of Nevada State High School, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.

Kirkpatrick served in the Nevada Assembly from 2004 — rising to the speaker position — prior to her appointment to the commission in 2015.

District B includes large rural swaths of the county. Should Kirkpatrick win, she would then hit a term limit.

“There are things that I want to finish up and do for the district,” Kirkpatrick told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I hope that for the last term, I can get a few more things done.”

The severity of vehicle crashes can be curbed with enforcement and road redesigns, but also through education, she said. “We need people to really stop running red lights.”

The county is in the midst of a critical affordable housing shortage and increased homelessness.

Kirkpatrick said that while the number of homeless persons have gone up, so has the availability of resources.

“We are working hard (to get) facilities for people to able to go and get all the services they need and a safe place to sleep,” she said.

“I think we’re starting to see some of the fruits of our labor,” she added.

Kirkpatrick would continue pushing for the county to get more federal land for housing because “everybody should have the opportunity to have homeownership,” she said, adding that seniors, too, are being priced out.

The county should expand, but also “infill” existing neighborhoods, she said.

Kirkpatrick cited an increase in manufacturing industries moving to the county, and said that continuing to attract medical professionals is a “top priority.”

The county is working to provide workforce training that can accommodate new businesses, she said.

She wants to see shovels hit the ground for a new substance abuse treatment center.

Kirkpatrick is the president of the Nevada Association of Counties and the Las Vegas Valley Water District board of directors. Her assignments include the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Southern Nevada Health District board of health, and the Debt Management Commission.

She said she’s proud of her “Pathway from Poverty” program that helps children and families succeed.

Welsh previously challenged Commissioner Jim Gibson, coming in third place with 2.23 percent of the vote in 2022.

Records show that he had not raised any funds for either run.

On an X post announcing his candidacy this time around, he wrote: “Some key issues I’ll be focusing on are short-term rentals, removing unnecessary licensing requirements, and discussing the unintended consequences that F1 had on many of the county’s citizens.”

In documents filed with the secretary of state’s office, he listed his occupation as a contractor.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.