The Morning After: Let's See What Happened!

Here are the municipal primary results. And here is how election night was spent throughout the valley.



We started in Henderson, where both Gerri Schroder and Debra March surprisingly coasted to outright wins with 54% each! I first stopped at Debra's party, and we were eagerly awaiting those first early vote numbers. And as soon as we heard them, I had a good feeling.

Debra was quite upbeat, and the local Henderson crowd was getting pumped up. Ah, the scent of victory!



Gerri's party was next. I must say she had the best food of the bunch, as well as the snazziest room at The Henderson Convention Center. And the mood here was quite upbeat as the numbers kept pouring in and Gerri stayed well above 50%. Despite the powerful opposition and last minute attacks on her personal finances and her marriage, Gerri prevailed.

Score another one for Team NVP! ;-)





From there, it was onto Las Vegas, where the campaigning was hot and the results were tight! In Ward 3, Bob Coffin and Adriana Martinez were neck and neck all night, with Martinez starting narrowly ahead in the early vote but Coffin finishing just 49 votes ahead.

Adriana's party was full of energy, and full of people young and old, black and white and brown, men and women, and so much more. The music was blasting and people were dancing. Oh yes, and Nevada's top cop, Catherine Cortez Masto, even made a guest appearance!





At Larry Brown's party last night, tension and nerves were in the air. The dancers may have been juggling fire outside, but inside The Arts Factory Brown's team was busy analyzing the results and juggling its own fire. They were most definitely in for the ride of their lives!

I had a chance to talk with Larry last night, and he really sounded frustrated over the mess he fell into last week. He said he SUPPORTS SB 283 domestic partnerships, and that he does not favor any sort of anti-LGBT discrimination. I still don't understand why he would even bother answering Richard Ziser's insanely stupid questionnaire, but hopefully he's learned his lesson with this. I just find it sad that such a smart guy would get caught in such a silly and stupid clusterf*ck like that.





And oh my, did we save the best for last, or what! After all the drama, all the highs and lows, and all the insanity of Las Vegas' first round of mayoral campaigning, Chris Giunchigliani scored the #2 slot to face Carolyn Goodman in the June runoff.

And oh yes, this race is far from over! Chris G made sure her crowd of supporters knew that last night. She even took to Twitter to reiterate the point! Indeed, "This is when the fun begins."

Of course, there are even more local results to talk about and even more to discuss as the June runoff campaign starts today. The fun will really be underway throughout Southern Nevada this spring!

Wait, There's an Election in Henderson, Too?

Heh. Last night, I caught this on TV...



At last, a campaign ad NOT from one of the usual Vegas Mayoral suspects! ;-)

And not only is Debra March now on TV, but she's also all over Henderson! Here she was at a recent house party...



And here she was at The Sons of Erin St. Patrick's Day Parade last Saturday.





And I know she's been walking all over the place and meeting with voters regularly to talk about what they want to see in Henderson city government. And even better, she has actual answers, rather than the usual canned candidate crap. Stuff like this obviously warms my crazy policy wonk heart. ;-)

(Disclaimer: I will be voting early today, and I intend to vote for Gerri Schroder, Debra March, and Sam Bateman for Henderson City Council. Yes, my dears, you may consider this my one set of official 2011 election endorsements!)



Sam Bateman was also at the parade last weekend. He gathered some friends to walk with him there, then he gathered more friends to walk with him in Solera (just UP the hill from Sun City Anthem!) after the parade.

And interestingly enough, folks there are now realizing we have our own election here. They're realizing Henderson has its own issues, and that we need sound, sane leadership to keep Henderson running smoothly. Sam got some good reception last Saturday among what's usually a tough audience in Solera.

And now that early voting is underway, we can finally make our voices heard in this election. If you haven't done so yet, please remember to vote early if you're in Henderson... Or if you're in one of the other Clark County cities with municipal elections for that matter!

Remember, the city you save with your vote may be your own. ;-)

First Thoughts on Henderson City Council Forum

Wow. It's one thing to hear all the rumors swirling around the campaigns and candidates of 2011, but it's something else to hear directly from the people in the news. That's what happened last night when I grabbed a front row seat at the Henderson Democratic Club Candidate Forum.

Here's what I noticed last night:

- Debra March is definitely knowledgeable on Henderson issues and what she feels she can do to continue making this city great. She had an interesting take on "rightsizing" local government- that is, making local government more efficient while continuing to improve the essential services that everyone loves about Henderson. I was definitely getting a Clintonesque vibe... In a good way, of course! And as the former Director of The Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV, I could most definitely see her inner policy wonk shine through! As y'all know, I do have a soft spot in my heart for wonks. ;-)

- Sam Bateman is new to campaigning. I could tell. However, he isn't new to community service. As soon as he started talking about his "family values" of utilizing local policy to ensure Henderson families have access to good jobs and economic security, I was melting. And when he described in depth what Henderson's Planning Commission does and how he relishes his role in protecting the quality of local neighborhoods, I could tell he may be new to campaigning, but not new to getting a tough job done.

- Gerri Schroder has real passion. I could feel it, and I most definitely heard it in her speech last night. She clearly knows Henderson and knows Ward 1, as she was telling us stories of fighting NV Energy's attempt to mount huge transformers in people's backyards, meeting regularly with rural homeowners who want to preserve their community as they know it and love it, and working on a truly balanced budget that keeps city finances in the black while also keeping people working and services running. It was hard not to be moved.

- Kevinn Donovan also showed up. He explained why he jumped into this race after losing his State Assembly race last fall. After November, someone reminded him of a promise he made to run in this election after the decision was made on the Ward 2 appointment in 2009. He spoke about being on the job at Cosmopolitan as the new casino was opening, and that his business experience there best qualifies him to run Henderson. He then proceeded to attack current Henderson leadership, then offered proposals on issues like severing Henderson from Clark County School District, issues that I don't think the city has too much control over.

That's what I saw last night. Oh, and the snapshots above as well. Local politics certainly isn't dull, and Henderson may be in for quite a dramatic election this year.