Primary results: Incumbents avoid general election face-offs with convincing wins

By Ana Ley, Conor Shine

Published Tuesday, April 7, 2015 | 5 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, April 8, 2015 | 12:15 a.m.

Aided by low turnout and name recognition, incumbents throughout the Las Vegas Valley coasted to re-election in Tuesday's municipal primary elections, beating challengers by a wide enough margin to fend off a June general election.

In Las Vegas — which features the most races — Mayor Carolyn Goodman kept her seat after a competitive contest with Councilman Stavros Anthony, who managed to keep it close despite Goodman's big fundraising advantage. Goodman won with 55 percent of the vote.

North Las Vegas, which had the fewest votes by far, had two open city council elections. Incumbent Pamela Goynes-Brown easily defeated three challengers, while Richard Cherchio won the seat of outgoing incumbent Wade Wagner.

Incumbents also led in Henderson's three municipal races, with Councilman Sam Bateman facing the strongest challenger. While Bateman took the lead at 51 percent, financial adviser Derek Uehara wasn't far behind with 43 percent of the vote. A second challenger, Tristan Galicia, only got 6 percent of the vote.

Because every winner took more than 50 percent of the vote, they won't have to compete in a June general election.

Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, a proposed $200 million downtown soccer stadium was at the top of voters' minds, but the range of opinions on the failed project was broad.

"There are better ways to spend that money," said Ward 3 voter Michael Litvinoff, who listed potholes and other road repairs as things he'd like to see addressed first.

His wife, Rebecca Litvinoff, said she was upset voters didn't get to weigh in on the project, which was scrapped in February after Major League Soccer decided not to bring an expansion franchise to Las Vegas.

But some saw Carolyn Goodman's support of the stadium, which she was attacked for repeatedly throughout the campaign by Anthony, as a positive step toward trying to grow the city's economy.

"I think Mayor Carolyn Goodman has done nothing but good for Las Vegas. Her push to bring a stadium would have brought economic development and jobs to the city," Ward 4 voter Tom Prato said.

Like Goodman, incumbents in three other city council races in Wards 1, 3 and 5 had healthy leads in name recognition and fundraising that gave them a big edge over their respective challengers. Las Vegas Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian took the strongest lead, with 81 percent of the vote in Ward 1.

North Las Vegas

Chiropractor Matthew Anderson and former city councilman Cherchio vied to replace outgoing incumbent Wagner in North Las Vegas’ 4th Ward. Cherchio, who lost the 2011 election to Wagner by a single vote, easily reclaimed the seat Tuesday.

Pat Murphy said he supported Cherchio because he stayed involved in the ward even after after losing the last election.

"He was staying active and doing things for the neighborhood," Murphy said of Cherchio.

Rene Whitten said she also supported Cherchio because she thought he'd done a good job in the two years he previously served on the city council from 2009 to 2011.

In Ward 2, Goynes-Brown faced three challengers, including North Las Vegas planning commissioner Laura Perkins. Goynes-Brown, who won with 63 percent of the vote, has pointed to the city's successful turnaround and recovery from the recession as reasons why voters should support her for another term.

Henderson

In Henderson, Uehara put up a strong fight for Ward 4 — he even held up a campaign sign outside the Green Valley Library voting station Tuesday and talked a few into picking him over Bateman.

“It’s the first time that you see a person that’s on the ballot there instead of them sending someone,” said voter Natasha Gonzalez, who planned to vote for Bateman before speaking with Uehara that day.

The challenger’s tenacity paid off somewhat, and he managed to snag 43 percent of the vote despite raising far less campaign money than Bateman. But the incumbent still won with 51 percent of the vote, narrowly meeting the threshold to avoid a general election in June.

City council incumbents Debra March and Gerri Schroder, aided largely by name recognition, didn’t face much of a challenge in their respective races.

Several voters said they were pleased with Henderson’s overall leadership — IT manager Sean Hill credited council members for helping the suburb weather the recent economic downturn better than other cities in the valley.

Voting at Green Valley Library was briefly interrupted about 3:30 p.m. when police got a report about a man with a gun. Officers arrived and patted down a man who matched the caller’s description, but they didn’t find a weapon. ​

Election Results | 9:41 p.m.

Las Vegas Mayor

Precincts Reporting: 298 of 298 (100 %)

Stavros S. Anthony 42.05 %

Phil ''LOL'' Cory 2.55 %

Carolyn G. Goodman* 54.54 %

Abdul H. Shabazz 0.87 %

Las Vegas Councilman Ward 1

Precincts Reporting: 51 of 51 (100 %)

Raymond Fletcher 19.30 %

Lois Tarkanian* 80.70 %

Las Vegas Councilman Ward 3

Precincts Reporting: 32 of 32 (100 %)

Bob Coffin* 56.41 %

Hart Fleischhauer 5.15 %

Alicia G. Herrera 14.16 %

Megan Heryet 19.31 %

Eric Krattiger 3.70 %

Carlo ''Humane'' Poliak 1.26 %

Las Vegas Councilman Ward 5

Precincts Reporting: 47 of 47 (100 %)

Ricki Y. Barlow* 68.54 %

Randy Voyard 31.46 %

Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge Dept 1

Precincts Reporting: 298 of 298 (100 %)

Yvette Chevalier 36.20 %

Cynthia Leung* 63.80 %

Henderson City Council Ward I

Precincts Reporting: 156 of 156 (100 %)

Eddie ''Eduardo'' Hamilton 26.34 %

Edward Oneil 15.56 %

Gerri Schroder* 58.10 %

Henderson City Council Ward II

Precincts Reporting: 156 of 156 (100 %)

Crystal G. Hendrickson 40.83 %

Debra March* 59.17 %

Henderson City Council Ward IV

Precincts Reporting: 156 of 156 (100 %)

Sam Bateman* 50.97 %

Tristan Galicia 6.16 %

Derek Uehara 42.87 %

North Las Vegas Council Member Ward 2

Precincts Reporting: 23 of 23 (100 %)

Richard S. Carreon 5.86 %

Pamela A. Goynes-Brown* 63.38 %

Richard ''Dick'' Moyer 5.80 %

Laura E. Perkins 24.96 %

North Las Vegas Council Member Ward 4

Precincts Reporting: 21 of 21 (100 %)

Matthew Anderson 8.07 %

Richard Cherchio 71.93 %

Incumbents are noted with an asterisk.

Source: Clark County Election Department