CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Fifteen challengers filed for the Nevada governor’s race by Friday’s deadline. But with little name recognition, none pose much of a threat to the re-election of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval in November.
Sandoval will face four opponents in the June 10 GOP primary. All are newcomers or candidates who file every election with little chance of winning. Nine Democrats also filed, but none can be considered a front-runner to defeat the popular incumbent.
An Independent American Party and a Green Party candidate also filed by the 5 p.m. deadline.
Challengers to Sandoval who make it to November will face a huge financial hurdle. Reports show Sandoval took in more than $3 million last year in contributions for his re-election.
With no big-name Democrat in the governor’s race, Lucy Flores, a Las Vegas assemblywoman, is at the top of the Democratic ticket running for lieutenant governor. The part-time job will draw all the attention this election because the winner of that contest will ascend to the Governor’s Mansion should Sandoval run for national office in 2016 and win.
Flores first will face Harley Zane Kulkin of Pahrump in the Democratic primary.
Republican contenders Mark Hutchison, a state senator from Reno, and Sue Lowden, a former state senator who ran unsuccessfully in a crowded GOP primary field in the 2010 U.S. Senate race, have been campaigning for months for the lieutenant governor’s post. Sandoval is supporting Hutchison. Chris Dyer also filed as a GOP candidate.
There will be no primaries in the races for secretary of state, attorney general or state treasurer.
Ross Miller, the current Democratic secretary of state, will run against Republican Adam Laxalt for the open attorney general’s job. Both come from longtime political families in Nevada. Jonathan Hansen is running as an Independent American Party candidate.
Barbara Cegavske, a termed out Republican state senator, will face Kate Marshall, a Democrat, and Nevada Green Party candidate Timothy Reinhardt for the job of secretary of state. Marshall is currently state treasurer.
Kim Wallin, Democratic state controller; Republican businessman Dan Schwartz; and Independent American Party candidate Kress Cave will be on the ballot in November for state treasurer.
Three Republican, two Democratic and one Independent American candidates are running for state controller.
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