Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo on Friday, July 31, 2020 during the first day of the 32nd Special Session of the Legislature in Carson City. (David Calvert/Nevada Independent, pool)
Monday, Oct. 12, 2020 | 6:12 p.m.
Former U.S. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid is endorsing a state Assembly member against a longtime state court judge in their race for an open seat on the Nevada Supreme Court.
Ozzie Fumo announced Monday he received Reid’s backing in the race against Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon. A Reid aide confirmed the endorsement.
Fumo is a trial attorney and adjunct professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV. He’s serving his second two-year term as a Democratic state lawmaker from Las Vegas.
Herndon is the presiding criminal judge in homicide cases in Las Vegas. He’s a former special victims unit prosecutor who was appointed to the bench by Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn in 2005 and elected three times.
Herndon drew 45% and Fumo drew 35.6% of the vote in the June primary to trigger a nonpartisan runoff to replace retiring Justice Mark Gibbons on the seven-member court.
Both candidates have multiple endorsements from organizations, attorneys, politicians and individuals.
Herndon calls himself the only judge in the race.
Fumo criticizes Herndon’s work in 1995 as a deputy district attorney convicting a man who was pardoned in 2017 after serving 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
