Early election results show 2 challengers, 4 incumbents leading in Las Vegas Valley judicial races

Four incumbents and two challengers lead in judicial races in Las Vegas, according to the latest election results posted online Tuesday night.

In Henderson, Sam Bateman, who serves as a councilman and a Clark County prosecutor, had collected more than 35 percent of the vote for the city’s justice court, results showed.

Bateman, a prosecutor for 12 years and a councilman for more than five years, was in line to take over a seat left vacant by Judge Rodney T. Burr, who held the seat for 25 years. He took a lower-court appointment at Henderson Municipal Court to fill a position left by Judge Diana Hampton, who died in March.

Bateman beat out five other candidates for the seat and his campaign raised more than $107,000, nearly three times as much as the others in the field combined.

Bateman said he was “thankful for the voters in the Henderson township. I look forward to representing them in a different capacity, using my experience as a prosecutor. I should be able to hit the ground running pretty easily, and it should be a pretty smooth transition.”

With more than half the votes counted, Clark County’s election website showed District Court incumbents Eric Johnson and Joe Hardy Jr. with double-digit percentage point leads.

Hardy, in his first term since being appointed to Department 15 in April 2015, earned a little more than 60 percent of the vote, while challenger Bruce Gale earned slightly less than 40 percent of the vote, according to the county’s election site with more than 33 percent of precincts reporting.

Hardy called the judgeship his “dream job.”

“I’m grateful to have the support and receive the support of so many members of the community,” he said. “It’s an honor to serve as a judge, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to continue to do so. I’m glad I can keep my dream job as a judge.”

Johnson, a longtime federal prosecutor who also was appointed to Department 20 in April 2015, had collected a little more than 56 percent of the vote, while challenger Anat “Annette” Levy earned nearly 44 percent, results showed.

Johnson pointed to his experience on the bench. That race turned out to be the richest judicial battle in Clark County in 2016, according to campaign finance reports. Johnson raised more than $400,000, while Levy raised more than $200,000.

“I think the voters recognized the background I brought to the bench, the experience I brought to the bench and the work that I’ve been doing on the bench through the course of my 30-plus years as a Nevadan working with the legal community,” Johnson said. “Attorneys and firms knew me, knew my integrity and commitment to justice for both criminal and civil cases.”

With more than 60 percent of the votes counted, four races for Las Vegas justice court seats showed incumbents and challengers leading.

In Department 3, challenger Harmony Letizia, a Clark County public defender, had a lead of nearly 8 percent over incumbent Janiece Marshall.

In Department 6, challenger attorney Rebecca Kern led by nearly 19 percent against incumbent Bita Yeager.

In Department 7, incumbent Karen Bennett led by almost 31 percent against challenger Vincent “Vinny” Ginn.

In Department 13, incumbent Suzan Baucum held a roughly 4 point lead against challenger Shana Bachman.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.