Carson City voters to see state and local seats up for election

The presidential race notwithstanding, there are several statewide and local elected offices that are going to be put to the vote in 2016, according to Aubrey Rowlatt, Chief Deputy of Elections with the Carson City Clerk’s Office.

The most notable of the statewide races is the United States Senate seat being vacated by incumbent Harry Reid at the end of this year.

Both the Democrat and Republican parties have already posted leading candidates for this seat.

Former Nevada Attorney-General Catherine Cortez-Masto is running for the senate seat as a Democrat, while current U.S. Congressmen, Dr. Joe Heck, representing the Third Congressional District in Las Vegas, is running on the ticket of the Republicans’ Grand Old Party (GOP).

The U.S. Senate seat is a six-year term of office.

U.S. Congressmen Mark Amodei, a Republican representing Nevada’s Second Congressional District in Northern Nevada, is running for re-election in 2016. Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are served for two-year terms.

Amodei, who has served in the House since 2011, will be running against Chip Evans, a talk radio host and former chair of the Washoe County Democratic Party.

No Democrat has ever held Nevada’s Second Congressional seat, according to KNPR radio in Reno.

Also up for re-election is Philip “PK” O’Neill, incumbent state assemblyman from Nevada Assembly District 40 in Carson City.

O’Neill, finishing his first term in the Nevada Assembly, has already announced his intention to run again. He was elected in 2014.

O’Neill will be challenged in this year’s primary election by Al Kramer of Carson City, said Carson City Clerk-Recorder Susan Merriwether.

Other statewide races include non-partisan Supreme Court Justice Seats A and E, currently held by Hon. James Hardesty and Hon. Ronald Parraguire, respectively.

Nevada State Court of Appeals Departments one, two and three are all up for election in 2016, too. These non-partisan legal benches are currently held by Hon. Jerome T. Tao, Hon. Michael P. Gibbons, and Hon. Abbi Silver, respectively.

The University Board of Regents District 9 seat, currently held by Robert Davidson, who was appointed midterm in March of last year, is up for election as well.

This post is a six-year term, Rowlatt said, and it will appear back on the ballot again in 2018. Davidson will be facing his first election in this position.

Finally, the Nevada State Board of Education District 2 Seat is up for election in 2016. Its elected incumbent, Dave Cook, passed away recently, and former Nevada State Assemblyman Pat Hickey was appointed to take his place last month.

In Carson City, countywide races include the mayor.

Incumbent Robert “Bob” Crowell has served two terms already, and he has announced his intention to run for a third term, according to the Nevada Appeal.

Carson City Treasurer Gayle Robertson, appointed in the middle of an unexpired two-year term, will face election as the seat’s incumbent.

Two seats on the Carson City Board of Supervisors are up for election in 2016.

Both Brad Bonkowski of Ward 2 and Jim Shirk of Ward 4 have announced their intentions to seek re-election. They are each completing their first terms on the Board this year.

And three Carson City School District Trustee seats are up for election in 2016: District 2, currently held by Laurel Crossman; District 5, held by Steven Reynolds; and District 7, currently held by Joe Cacioppo.

Although some candidates have already announced their candidacy, they must wait until March 7 to file with the County Clerk’s Office. The filing deadline for non-judicial candidates is March 18.

The deadlines for judicial candidate filings was last month.