Black files for Congress, Schwartz for lieutenant governor

Nevada Assemblywoman Annie Black, who contemplated running for the state Senate but changed focus to set her sights on Congress, officially filed for the 4th District on Wednesday.

Black made headlines in 2021 when she bucked the Assembly’s Democratic leadership’s requirements for members to wear masks on the floor during the session. She conducted her committee business from her office after being banned from the floor.

She joins a Republican primary that already includes Air Force veteran and small businessman Sam Peters and Las Vegas City Council aide Chance Bonaventura. The winner will face off against incumbent Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford, who is seeking his fourth term. (Horsford won the seat in 2012, but was defeated in 2014, and returned to win again in 2018 and 2020.)

In Congressional District 1, progressive Democrat Amy Vilela entered the Democratic primary. Incumbent Rep. Dina Titus has yet to file for what would be her seventh term in Congress overall and her sixth representing the 1st District. (Titus briefly represented Congressional District 3 from 2008-2010.)

Also on Wednesday, the race for lieutenant governor got even more crowded, as former Republican state Treasurer Dan Schwartz filed for that office. He brings to 11 the number of people on both sides of the aisle who are seeking that job.

Schwartz served one term as treasurer from 2014-2018. He ran for governor in 2018, but lost badly in the Republican primary to Adam Laxalt. Schwartz then sought the 3rd Congressional District seat in 2020 but lost that GOP primary to Dan Rodimer.

During his term as treasurer he was upbraided by fellow Republicans for proposing an alternative state budget that relied on at least one tax that would have been illegal. But he also proposed progressive reforms such as a statewide database of payday loans to prevent people from being exploited by lenders. And Schwartz’s prediction that a Faraday Future electric car manufacturing facility planned for North Las Vegas wouldn’t be built turned out to be accurate, despite rosy official pronouncements.

And perennial candidate Allen Rheinhart filed to run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto. Rheinhart also ran against Cortez Masto in 2016, as well as in the primaries for U.S. Senate in 2018 and Congress in 2020.

In local government filings, North Las Vegas Councilman Scott Black filed for re-election to his Ward 3 seat. Fellow incumbent Councilman Issac Barron has also filed for re-election in Ward 1.

Black, who owns a marketing business, said the city’s marketing is strong.

“The power and strength of any good brand is built on public opinion,” he said in a statement. “The City of North Las Vegas has many wonderful things to offer. I’ve worked hard to build a brand for North Las Vegas that we are the premier city in southern Nevada to live, work and run a business.”

And incumbent Clark County School District Trustee Linda Cavazos filed for re-election to her District G seat on Wednesday. She faces four challengers so far. In District D, incumbent and board president Irene Cepeda has filed for re-election. But in District F, incumbent Danielle Ford has yet to file papers to seek a second term.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Steve Sebelius at SSebelius@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SteveSebelius on Twitter.