Nordstrom declares win over McCarthy in razor-thin Las Vegas City Council race

Fewer than 200 votes separated Shannon Nordstrom and Luke McCarthy in the race to represent Ward 2 on the Las Vegas City Council as of Sunday.

But it was Nordstrom, a former Las Vegas Municipal Court judge, who declared victory in one of Clark County’s closest races in a Facebook post on Saturday.

As of Sunday, more than 32,000 votes have been counted in the race for Ward 2, which is home to more than 116,000 Las Vegans and encompasses parts of the west valley, including Summerlin.

Nordstrom told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that McCarthy, a longtime Clark County firefighter, called her to concede the race on Friday evening. McCarthy even delivered her a bottle of champagne to celebrate, she said.

“I appreciated his phone call. He was very gracious, congratulated us on the win and then I also congratulated him on running a tough race in his commitment to the community throughout the election,” Nordstrom said Sunday.

McCarthy did not respond to a request for an interview on Sunday.

The General Election wasn’t the only close race Nordstrom had to endure. McCarthy bested her by 355 votes in June’s primary election, but failed to earn 50 percent of the vote, which would have won him the seat outright.

Nordstrom attributed her improved performance in the general to her campaign’s ground game.

“I wore out many pairs of sneakers,” Nordstrom said of knocking thousands of doors since June. Nordstrom added that she leveraged her community recognition at a litany of events to convince others to vote for her.

“We were out with the people a lot,” Nordstrom said. “Those one-on-one conversations with individuals at the doors and just sharing my story and my experience and how much I care about the community and a lot of the volunteer work that I’ve done in our community over the years, I think people appreciate that.”

Nordstrom said she intends to work on the issues she hears about from her constituents, such as opening up lanes near construction zones with no apparent construction and e-bike and e-scooter misuse. She said she is entering City Hall “with an open mind and an open heart” and will work to understand the priorities of both the city and its residents.

“I’m still on the outside looking in, but I’m a collaborator,” Nordstrom said. “I’m looking forward to working with everyone on the council, the mayor, everyone, to see what we can do for this city.”

Ballot curing, certification deadlines approach

Only one Southern Nevada election was closer: the contest between Melissa Hardy and Shenea Booth for State Assembly District 22, which encompasses parts of the southern valley and Henderson. Booth, a Democrat, leads the Republican incumbent Hardy by 77 votes with more than 34,000 votes counted as of Sunday. Neither candidate had publicly declared victory over the weekend.

The Nevada secretary of state’s office continues to count votes statewide as deadlines loom for election certifications.

Mail ballot voters have until 5 p.m. Monday to cure their ballots if they have been contacted their county election official about a missing or mismatched signature. Voters can track their mail ballots at myballot.nv.gov and learn more about signature curing at cure.nv.gov.

Mail ballots had to be received by the county election official no later than 5 p.m. Saturday and postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted.

County and city governing bodies must review and certify their election returns on or before Friday. A statewide election canvass will occur on Nov. 24.

Contact Spencer Levering at [email protected] or 702-383-0253.