Las Vegas mayoral candidates aim to build on Goodman legacy

The Goodmans — first Oscar and now Carolyn — have spent the past 25 years in the Las Vegas mayor’s office.

That’s about to change.

With Carolyn Goodman termed out of office, 14 candidates are on the primary ballot vying for the position. Early voting started Saturday.

Three candidates, according to polling, have emerged as the front-runners: former U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley as well as Las Vegas City Council members Cedric Crear and Victoria Seaman.

The latest polling from Emerson College, KLAS-TV and The Hill shows Berkley leading with 16% of voter support. Seaman is at 12% and Crear has 7%, but over half of voters say they are undecided, which sets the table for a closely contested race.

Election Day is June 11; early voting goes through June 5, and residents can drop mail ballots through June 11.

Although the office is nonpartisan, the Democrat Berkley holds 27% support among her party while Seaman, a Republican, garnered 24% of her party’s support, the poll showed.

If one of the candidates wins 50.1% of the primary vote, they will be the next mayor. If the majority isn’t reached, the top two candidates would move to a November run-off.

Let’s meet the contenders.

Shelley Berkley

Berkley spent 14 years serving Nevada in the U.S. House of Representatives. She also served in the Nevada Legislature as an assemblywoman and spent eight years on the Nevada Board of Regents.

All of this work — including her time in the private sector working as senior vice president of Touro University — led to her run for mayor, she said.

“Over the years, I’ve acquired an extraordinary amount of knowledge and information that impacts all of Southern Nevada,” Berkley said. “I am of the belief that the next 10 years are going to be explosive in the city of Las Vegas in a very positive way. We need to be welcoming because there will be a number of people flocking to Las Vegas because of the job opportunities that the city ... affords people, and I am very excited to be able to use my background and knowledge for the good of the people of the city.”

Berkley wants to address the rising homeless population, saying “not only is there concern for humanitarian reasons, but there’s also concerns about the quality of life and protecting businesses that are being impacted by the number of people living on the streets.”

Affordable housing and economic diversification are also priorities, Berkley said.

The former congresswoman believes her connections locally and federally could help accomplish some of those goals, especially securing more services for homeless people. She aims to have social and economic services in one place for the population.

Berkley said she would work with other local jurisdictions to bring more professional sports teams to Southern Nevada. She believes an NBA or Major League Soccer team could find a home in the city.

Berkley is “fully supportive” of bolstering growth in the Arts District, bringing more cultural centers like an art museum downtown and attracting more tourists to the city.

Taking the reins from Carolyn Goodman — who Berkley said is leaving the city in a good state — and continuing some of the city’s efforts to expand the arts and culture, medical, technology and sports industries in Las Vegas are what “a mayor ought to be doing.”

“I think my predecessors, people that have been mayor before — Jan Jones (Blackhurst), Oscar (Goodman), Carolyn (Goodman) — have been very good ambassadors for the city of Las Vegas — attracting attention, offering an exciting opportunity for people to come to downtown Las Vegas (or) Downtown Summerlin and enjoy the amenities of the city,” Berkley said. “I will look forward to continuing that legacy.”

Cedric Crear

As the only contender to be born and raised in Las Vegas, Crear said “nobody is more prepared to be the next mayor of Las Vegas than me, and nobody loves the city more than me.”

The councilman has spent six years overseeing Ward 5 — more commonly known as the Historic Westside — but served on the Las Vegas Planning Commission and as a member of the Nevada Board of Regents before being voted into his current seat in 2018.

He also serves on multiple boards, including the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Local Law Enforcement Advisory Committee and the UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees. From 1992 to the early 2000s, Crear spent his time working among the tourism and hospitality industry in various positions within Station Casinos.

“The mayor plays a very pivotal role in being the ambassador for the city, and when you sell Las Vegas, you sell the entire region,” Crear said. “So that’s why it’s important to get the right person in that office because you need the best global ambassador that understands our No. 1 industry — tourism and hospitality — and has experience in tourism and hospitality from an operational standpoint, and also from a governance standpoint with LVCVA.”

The pillars of Crear’s campaign include public safety, homelessness and economic diversification. It’s something, he says, he’s supported addressing during his time on the council.

Crear said he supported public safety ordinances such as the addition of a new police substation on Fremont Street; acquired $11 million for the Historic Westside’s first-of-its-kind advanced skills training center to specialize in advanced manufacturing among other careers; and helped establish the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center.

Crear said advertising Las Vegas will keep visitation numbers strong. He also wants to develop local industries — especially the medical district off West Charleston Boulevard — and bring more professional sports franchises to the city.

That only works when a mayor “can sell Las Vegas,” he said.

“Nobody knows the city better than me; nobody knows the industry better than me … no one loves the city more than me; and no one would be a better global ambassador than me,” Crear said. “We’re gonna win.”

Following the Goodmans on the council would be an honor, he said.

Crear grew up with the Goodmans’ children, then worked closely with Carolyn Goodman when he joined the city council. He said “it has been an honor to work side by side” with her and he hopes to continue learning from the Goodman duo even after Carolyn’s final days in office.

“We’ll continue a lot of work that we started, we’ll also bring in a fresh new set of eyes in the mayor’s office, which is always important to do,” Crear said. “I think that them turning over the reins to me as mayor, they’ll know that the city will be safe.”

Victoria Seaman

Seaman, whose city council ward encompasses the Summerlin area, helped secure funding from the city to expand the Pavilion Pool into an aquatic competition facility to host national tournaments and house the Sandpipers of Nevada — a local swim program with Olympic medal-winning athletes. She has been on the city council since 2019.

She additionally pushed for the multijurisdictional purchase of the Animal Foundation’s shelter building and revised contract following allegations of neglect at the facility, and supported a camping ban restricting homeless people from camping in public spaces when beds are available at homeless shelters.

Seaman also served a term in the Nevada Legislature, where the assemblywoman in 2015 sponsored Assembly Bill 386 giving police authority to remove people from occupying a dwelling without permission.

As mayor, Seaman said she would work to provide more resources to address homelessness, support protections for small businesses and diversify the economy.

Seaman says she has the backing of law enforcement because of her efforts to “make sure that they have all the tools that they need to keep our over 40 million tourists a year, our constituents and themselves safe.”

“I want to continue what we’re doing and more,” Seaman said. “I think it’s important to continue to work with businesses outside of Las Vegas and bring them in; economic diversity is so important to me. I love that we’ve been working on that in the city, and I want to do a lot more in bringing in businesses from neighboring cities that are looking for a new home.”

With economic diversification comes more industries, such as sports or arts, and Seaman is “excited” to continue the work she’s done alongside Carolyn Goodman to bring these new businesses into the city. Seaman said she’s learned a lot from Carolyn Goodman — “a very warm, loving human being” with “a lot of wisdom” — but the city needs a “bold leader” to steer it through this new time of growth.

“We have a lot of great things coming into the city of Las Vegas and keeping it and making it an even better world-class city than it is now,” Seaman said. “I think what we’re seeing across this country right now — with the uptick in crime and homelessness — I think people want a bold leader and they’re looking for new leadership. And I think I have big shoes to fill, but I think I can fill them.”

The ballot

Other candidates include: Kolawole Akingbade, Tera Anderson, Lynn Baird, Daniel Chapman, Irina Hansen, Kara Jenkins, Eric Medlin, Donna Miller, Michael Pacino, Deb Peck and William Walls.