Women set to increase legislative majority after election

The nation’s first female-majority legislature will be adding even more women to its ranks, if preliminary results from the 2020 election hold when ballots are finally certified this month.

A look at the roster shows women gaining one seat in the state Senate, and a net four seats in the Assembly, adding to what was already a female-dominated legislative branch in Nevada.

In the state Senate, former Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Roberta Lange will replace term-limited David Parks in District 7, putting the body at 11 women and 10 men.

In the Assembly, term-limited John Hambrick likely will be replaced by Heidi Kasama in District 2. District 6 incumbent William McCurdy II — who successfully ran for the Clark County Commission — will be replaced by Shondra Summers-Armstrong. Clara “Claire” Thomas will fill the seat once held by the late Tyrone Thompson in District 17. Venicia Considine will take over in District 18 for Richard Carrillo, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate.

In District 19, Mesquite Councilwoman Annie Black beat incumbent Chris Edwards in the primary. Ozzie Fumo gave up his District 21 seat to run unsuccessfully for Nevada Supreme Court, and will be replaced by Elaine Marzola. Greg Smith in Assembly District 30 will be replaced by Natha Anderson, and former Assemblywoman Jill Dickman won her old seat back from Richard “Skip” Daly in District 31.

It wasn’t all good news for female candidates, however. Some seats switched from women to men: Incumbent Connie Munk was ousted from her District 4 seat by Richard McArthur; Dina Neal’s District 7 seat will be filled by Cameron Miller; Ellen Spiegel, the incumbent in District 20 who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate, will be replaced by David Orentlicher; and freshman incumbent Shea Backus is narrowly losing her District 37 seat to Andy Matthews.

Congress

Both incumbents in vulnerable seats widened their leads slightly: Democratic incumbent Susie Lee is now ahead of Republican challenger Dan “Big Dan” Rodimer by about 15,000 votes in the 3rd District. In the 4th District, Democratic incumbent Steven Horsford now leads former Republican Assemblyman Jim Marchant by more than 15,600 votes.

State Senate

In the closest race in the state Senate, Democrat Kristee Watson is still ahead of her Republican foe, Carrie Buck, in the 5th District, albeit by just 187 votes. Both women are vying to replace term-limited Joyce Woodhouse.

Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, widened her lead slightly over Republican attorney April Becker. Cannizzaro now leads by 847 votes.

Assembly

The most competitive seat in the Assembly is still in the 37th District, where Matthews leads Backus by just 608 votes. In other competitive districts, McArthur has a comfortable lead over Munk, incumbent Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen, D-Henderson, is about 1,000 votes ahead of Republican challenger Steven Delisle in District 29, and Republican former Assemblywoman Dickman has an even larger lead over incumbent Democrat Skip Daly in District 31.

County Commission

In the only competitive Clark County Commission race, Democratic former Secretary of State Ross Miller still leads Las Vegas Councilman Stavros Anthony, now by 559 votes. Anthony initially led in balloting but fell behind as more mail ballots were counted.

Ballot questions

Of the five proposed constitutional amendments, only Question 1 was failing, although the margin has tightened somewhat. The “no” votes now outpace the “yes” votes by about 10,600 ballots. The result is surprising given that Question 1 was supported by organizations as diverse as Battle Born Progress, Culinary Local 226 and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, as well as the Vegas Chamber, the National Federation of Independent Business-Nevada and the Retail Association of Nevada.

Overall, turnout for the election has reached 1.3 million votes, with about half cast by mail, 40 percent in early voting and about 10 percent cast on Election Day. That represents about 73.5 percent of all active registered voters in the state.

Thursday is the deadline for counting all ballots in Nevada.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.