The Nevada Lieutenant Governor’s race is heating up.
It’s a role that not many people may think about, but it is the second highest official in the state.
The incumbent, Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony is facing off against longtime state lawmaker Sandra Jauregui.
Both have released campaign advertisement.
Introduction
"I've been proud to serve as Lieutenant Governor for the last four years, so it's been 45 years living in the state of Nevada and I've loved every minute of it," Anthony said.
Since elected in 2022, Anthony has served in the role.
He comes from a law enforcement background with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department before moving into politics.
A transition, Anthony says that was much more seamless than you might think.
"It's really just a continuation of police work,” he said. “You're in neighborhoods, you're in areas trying to solve problems and make things better. So, it was a perfect transition for me."
He served on the Las Vegas City Council for several years before moving into the state’s office.
"I realized that, you know, it was time to move on from the Assembly and I wanted to fight for Nevada families statewide, and so I announced I was running for lieutenant governor," Jauregui said.
Jauregui was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 2016.
She started in politics about six years earlier, working for Senator Harry Reid and then working with, at the time, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.
Stavros Anthony is hoping to serve another term as lieutenant governor, a position that serves both the executive and legislative branch. He says he still has unfinished business he would like to finish.
Legislature
The position serves both the executive and legislative branch.
The person elected presides over the state senate.
Lieutenant Governor gets three bills to introduce and can only vote in the event of a tie.
Jauregui says her priorities will continue to be the same issues she’s tried to address in the legislature.
"I'm still going to be there advocating for the policies that I care about most,” she said. “Housing, public safety, economic development, not just affordable healthcare, but accessible healthcare so that people don't have to wait nine months to see their doctor."
Anthony already has his three in mind.
“So, I want more businesses to be exempt from the modified business tax so they can put that money back into their business instead of giving it as a tax."
The other two involve getting students outside more.
Sandra Jauregui was elected to the Nevada state assembly in 2016. She started in politics about six years earlier, working for senator Harry Reid and then working with, at the time, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.
Other priorities
Since last year, Anthony has been an advocate for keeping transgender athletes out of women sports.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) did put some rules in play, but Anthony would like to see it elevated to Nevada law.
"Those bills will still be introduced in the next legislative session, and I will do what I can as president of the Senate to advocate those two bills, because I believe, the vast majority of Nevadans do not want men in women sports," he said.
For Jauregui, hers is a much more personal one, gun violence prevention.
She was there at the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting that killed nearly 60 people, while injuring hundreds.
"We just celebrated the nine year anniversary of 1 October, and no matter how hard it is to share my story about what happened that day, I do it because I want to continue to make sure and fight, to make sure that no family ever has to go through what I went through," Jauregui said.
Tourism
Las Vegas has seen tourism hit hard over the recent years.
The Lieutenant Governor is the chair of the Nevada Commission on Tourism.
Jauregui says one of the solutions is to distance from the Trump Administration, to gain back international visitors, particularly from Canada.
"First and foremost, we need to, you know, start an ad campaign and let them know that, hey, we are standing up to these federal policies that are hurting our state,” Jauregui said. “We do not agree with this federal administration."
Anthony says that fluctuation with tourism is not out of the ordinary and does believe the numbers will shift the other direction.
"I've lived in Las Vegas for 45 years and I've seen tourism numbers go up,” he said. “I've seen tourism numbers go down. I seen them go sideways. You know, tourism numbers are constantly fluctuating depending on the economy of the state, depending on the really the economy of the country and the world."
Both Anthony and Jauregui stressed the importance of the economic boost of outdoor recreation.
Data center tax break program
The lieutenant governor sits on the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board.
The board grants tax breaks to data centers.
Anthony believes data centers provide a good boost to economy and are often located out ‘in the middle of nowhere’.
However, he doesn’t feel strongly about the tax breaks.
“If the legislature, wants to take a look at taking away tax incentives for data centers, I don't have a problem with that because I think they're going to come to Nevada without the tax incentives," he said.
Jauregui also made her point pretty clear.
“No tax abatements for data centers,” she said.
Working with Governor
There is a chance that each candidate could be working a governor in their same respective party.
However, there is also a hypothetical world where they will have to work across the aisle.
Both said they are fine with either.
Jauregui says she’s worked across the aisle a lot in the legislature and pointed to working with Governor Lombardo on the bill that created the Nevada Attainable Housing Account.
"If you have a Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor, you're going to have a checks and balance, and you're going to have someone there holding the governor accountable when he's doing things to hurt Nevada families," she said.
Anthony noted that he and Lombardo are close. The two were both captains at LVMPD together.
However, he acknowledged that he would work with anyone who’s sitting in that chair.
"And if that governor has some ideas that I agree with, I'm going to support him 100 percent,” Anthony said. “If there are some ideas that he has that I don't agree with, and we're going to sit down and chat about it, but I'm not going to be here to be a flame thrower or throw people under the bus."
The lieutenant governor also moves to acting governor in the event of an emergency.
