Nevada education official launches bid to unseat Henderson councilwoman Carrie Cox

A governor-appointed member of the Nevada State Board of Education and former Republican Nevada Assembly candidate will challenge incumbent Henderson Councilmember Carrie Cox in next year’s election, and she enters the race with the support of nearly all of the city’s elected leadership.

Annette Dawson Owens, whose term on the education board expires in 2027, announced a run to represent Henderson Ward 3, her campaign said in a news release sent by local political consultant Liz Trosper. Owens has already won the endorsement of several current and former Henderson officials, including Mayor Michelle Romero and Councilmembers Dan Stewart, Jim Seebock and Monica Larson, according to her campaign’s release — the entirety of the existing council outside of Cox.

In a statement Dawson Owens said that if she is elected, she will pledge to bolster the quality of life for Henderson residents.

“I am excited to listen to our neighbors and work with them to continue building on the quality of life our Henderson residents and businesses currently enjoy,” Dawson Owens said in a statement. “My priorities include community safety, effective communication and transparency, sustainable economic diversification, education and healthy livable communities.”

The official filing period for nonjudicial political candidates will run from March 2 to March 13, 2026, but Dawson Owens is the first challenger to Cox since she announced her re-election bid May 8.

In a statement to the Review-Journal, Cox said that she remains confident she will resonate with voters in her ward and that they will continue to support her.

“As the Ward 3 Representative, I have consistently shown that I represent the people and work diligently for the best interest of the residents in my Ward and our community,” Cox said in a text message. “At times, that means making decisions and voting independently of my other council members. As a result, it is no surprise my colleagues recruited and endorsed someone that aligns with their agendas and not the needs of the people. I welcome an opponent as I am very confident that my campaign will win overwhelmingly again, just as I did last cycle when the council members supported my opponent.”

Dawson Owens’ foray into the race also comes amid heightened tensions between Cox and others city leaders. Larson earlier this month announced on her public official Facebook page that she was “in no way affiliated or aligned” with Cox, and Larson’s page last month also posted an image that digitally removed Cox from a public photo op with other city councilmembers. Cox in a statement told the Review-Journal last month that the “large amount of support she has in the community” allows her to continue to work with the community in spite of the statements made against her.

Cox is the only councilmember whose campaign communications are not coordinated by Trosper, according to a list of clients published on the public affairs specialist’s website. In 2022, Cox defeated challenger Trish Nash by 3,522 votes, or about 3 percentage points.

Background in education

In addition to her current post, Dawson Owens has served on the city’s Community Education Advisory Board, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in December 2016 that Dawson Owens was one of seven individuals who applied to fill a vacancy on the City Council following the departure of former Ward 4 Councilman Sam Bateman. In November, she lost to Democrat Joe Dalia in the race for Assembly District 29 by 1,468 votes, a difference of about 4.3 percentage points.

According to her campaign’s release, Dawson Owens is a lifelong Henderson resident and has previously taught at the Clark County School District and local charter schools. She has also served as a policy director for the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, an organization focused on policy changes that positively affect Nevada children, according to its website.

Additionally, the news release touted support from nearly three dozen notable figures in the Henderson business community and political scene, such as former Mayor Debra March; former Councilmembers Dan Shaw, Gerri Schroder and Jack Clark, as well as others including real estate developer Bob Unger, former council candidate Trish Nash and College of Southern Nevada Henderson campus provost Patty Charlton.

Dawson Owens was appointed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in March to a two-year term on the board of education, according to its website. In her announcement Dawson Owens did not indicate whether she would resign from the board if she was elected to the City Council position.

Dawson Owens’ campaign said she is a graduate of Basic High School, and has both an undergraduate degree in zoology and a master’s degree in education from UNLV. She also holds a master’s in administration from Sierra Nevada University, and her campaign maintains her family has deep ties to Henderson, with several relatives also living there.

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X or @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.