Nevada Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak addresses his Republican opponent in the upcoming midterm election, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, during a debate Sunday in Las Vegas. The two squared off on a number of issues, including taxes, education, former President Donald Trump and his successor President Joe Biden.
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022 | 12:26 p.m.
Nevada’s largest teachers union is declining to endorse a gubernatorial candidate.
The Clark County Education Association, which endorsed Democrat incumbent Steve Sisolak in 2018, said in a statement today that the Clark County School District’s large class sizes, teacher staffing crisis, campus violence and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic have had on learning “require leadership at the state level to find strategic solutions.”
The union said its executive board has interviewed Sisolak and Republican challenger Joe Lombardo multiple times.
While the union did not detail its impressions of its Lombardo conversations, it seemed to find its more recent interviews with Sisolak lacking.
“We expected to hear a plan to address these issues over the next four years, and we did not,” the union stated. “Accordingly, CCEA cannot support Steve Sisolak for reelection and will not be making an endorsement in the 2022 governor’s race.”
Both candidates have positioned themselves as schools-focused.
“Our members know firsthand the conditions of our public schools, the level of funding we are at, and the need for educators to be able to live in the communities we teach in with sustainable salaries and health benefits,” the union said. “To our members we say: vote what you know.”
Sisolak touted his education record in a series of Tweets not long after CCEA’s announcement, although he didn’t mention the union’s non-endorsement.
Among other accomplishments, he referenced investments his administration has made over the last four years in facilities, teacher salaries, and making school meals free for all, along with the appointment of career CCSD educator Lisa Cano Burkhead as lieutenant governor.
“In my second term we’ll continue to deliver for teachers and students. We’ll give our teachers ANOTHER raise, work to lower classroom sizes, expand opportunities for teacher licensure and identify pathways for universal Pre-K,” he wrote. “Because parents, teachers and students deserve it.”
