The filing period for candidates seeking elective office opens Monday, March 7.
This year, filing for judicial offices across the state is being held at the same time.
The filing period runs for two weeks, closing Friday, March 18 at 5 p.m.
Carson City Clerk Recorder Aubrey Rowlatt said many candidates want to file on the first day but she said they will be able to avoid waiting in line if they come in a day or two after the opening of filing.
Mark Wlaschin, elections deputy for the Secretary of State, said one important thing all candidates must know is that, once they file for an office, they are committed to filing the four contribution and expense reports mandated by state law. He said those reports are required even if a candidate later withdraws from the race. They are due April 15, July 15, Oct. 15 and Jan. 15.
He urged candidates not to miss those deadlines since the fine for not filing or being late is up to $10,000 for each report — a possible total of $40,000.
In addition, Wlaschin said, candidates must be citizens and, for most offices, an actual Nevada resident for at least 30 days before filing. Candidates for Congress don’t actually have to be Nevada residents.
The race drawing the most announced candidates so far is the Republican primary for governor. Ten have announced including former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo. Others in the race are Michele Fiore, Joey Gilbert, Thomas Heck, John Lee, Guy Nohra, Fred Simon and Barak Zilberberg.
Also drawing a lot of attention is the U.S. Senate race where Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto is seeking a second term. Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is the leading opponent on the GOP side but Sam Brown, Bill Hockstead and Sharelle Mendenhall are also in the primary.
There will be a number of new faces in the Senate and Assembly due to resignations, term limits and some incumbents seeking to move to the other legislative house.
In the Senate, Reno Republican Ben Kieckhefer and Douglas County GOP Minority Leader James Settelmeyer are both term limited. Kieckhefer has already resigned to take a seat on the Gaming Commission. Don Tatro was appointed to fill out his term and is running for District 16 representing Carson City, Storey County and south Washoe County. Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner also has said she will run for the seat.
Two incumbent Assembly members are running to fill Settelmeyer’s District 17 seat. They are former Minority Leader Jim Wheeler and current Minority Leader Robin Titus of Wellington.
That leaves both those seats, Districts 38 and 39, open.
Sparks Democratic Sen. Julia Ratti has also resigned her District 13 seat.
Sparks Republican Ira Hansen is expected to seek another term in Senate District 14 that stretches from Sparks across part of northern rural Nevada.
In Assembly District 40 representing Carson City and south Washoe County, incumbent Republican P.K. O’Neill has drawn perennial candidate Gary Schmidt as a primary opponent.
In the northern and rural multi-county races, Elko’s John Ellison in AD33 is termed out.
Alexis Hansen is expected to seek re-election in AD32 in Sparks.
Candidates file either in their county elections office or with the Secretary of State in either the capital or the Las Vegas office of the secretary depending on the office they are seeking.
The Secretary of State is the filing officer for all federal offices except the House of Representatives in Districts 1 and 3, which are located completely in Clark County.
Candidates in Districts 2 and 4, which are multi-county districts, file with the Secretary of State. Both incumbents — Republican Mark Amodei in CD2 and Steven Horsford in CD4 — are planning to seek re-election. CD2 includes Washoe and Carson City, Douglas County and northern rural counties. CD4 includes central and southern rural counties as well as northern rural Clark County.
Candidates seeking statewide constitutional offices file with the Secretary of State.
In Legislative races, Senate and Assembly districts that are in just one county file with their county election officials. Those seeking to represent districts that include more than one county file with the Secretary of State.
Two Supreme Court districts are up this election cycle. Justice Jim Hardesty has announced he will retire rather than seek another term. Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre has announced he will seek another term.
In addition, all three members of the Intermediate Appellate Court — Bonnie Bulla, Michael Gibbons and Jerome Tao are up for election to full six-year terms.
In Carson City, Sheriff Ken Furlong and DA Jason Woodbury have announced they will run for new terms. Assessor Dave Dawley is planning to retire. Chief deputy Kim Adams has said she will run for the office.
For supervisors, Stacey Giomi is seeking a second term but Stan Jones, appointed when Lori Bagwell moved from supervisor to the mayor’s seat, said he will not run.
There are also four seats on the Carson school board up this year: Lupe Ramirez’s District 1, Stacey Wilke-McCulloch’s District 3, Richard Varner in District 4 and Donald Carine in District 6.
Finally, one thing both Rowlatt and Wlaschin said they will be watching is filings for county offices that manage elections. Rowlatt has already said she won’t run again and four other clerks have resigned in large part because of harassment and threats from people who believe the 2020 elections were rigged, some from their own county commission members.
Clerks handle elections in 15 of Nevada’s 17 counties. Washoe and Clark have elections divisions run by appointed directors.
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