Goynes, Montandon reach faceoff in NLV

      A real estate appraiser and a 17-year veteran of the North Las Vegas City Council will compete in the June 3 general election to become North Las Vegas' mayor.
      Councilman Theron Goynes ended Tuesday night's primary election with 45 percent of the vote. Following was Mike Montandon, who collected 44 percent of the vote.
      According to the city's charter, the top two vote-getters in the municipal primary move on to compete in the general election.
      The third candidate for the mayor's job, relocation specialist Cassaundra Williams, finished with 11 percent of votes cast.
      If Goynes wins the general election, the city could have the state's first elected black mayor.
      "It was a close gap," Goynes said. "My initial impression is that a third candidate (Williams) cost me some votes."
      Goynes admitted that he hadn't expected Montandon, who has been low key in local politics, to finish so close. The final unofficial results showed the two separated by only 48 votes with 2,894 voting for Goynes and 2,846 for Montandon.
      Montandon, however, said he wasn't surprised by the close race.
      "I thought I'd end up a little bit more than this," Montandon said. "I've been knocking on a lot of doors. And what we know now is that 55 percent of the people are against Theron -- that includes the people who voted for me and Cassaundra.
      "The main issue in this race has been whether the people are happy with the status quo," Montandon said.
      All three candidates have said their campaigns were more about bringing new people to the City Council rather than making race representation an issue.
      Four seats on the City Council, including the mayor's, are open. Three of those seats had belonged to the same people for 17 years, including Goynes.
      Goynes said in earlier interviews that being elected the city's first black mayor would be special.
      "Yes, it's important," Goynes said. "But by the same token, I'm not running just to become the first black mayor. I would hope that people elect me because of my experience and dedication to the city."
      Among the three contenders, Goynes had raised the most money in the race, $94,448, based on financial disclosure reports from April 22.
      He also had more endorsements from unions representing public safety workers, including police and firefighters, than any other candidate.
      Montandon, on the other hand, has received an endorsement from Mayor James Seastrand, who is not seeking re-election after serving 17 years on the council.
      He received $24,060 in campaign contributions.
      Williams received $5,800 in campaign contributions.
      Montandon said having public safety endorsements doesn't necessarily guarantee a person will be elected.
      "It looked like he had a lot of endorsements, but they all follow suit once one endorses," Montandon said. "And obviously, now, we see that their endorsements didn't mean that much, did they? I had no choice but to follow a grass-roots campaign."