Judicial races stocked with challengers in Clark County

Clark County voters who are unhappy with the current roster of local judges can take heart: Challengers are packing the ballot of the District Court seats and Justice of the Peace seats.

In the nine races for those judicial openings, all of the incumbents are facing at least one challenger. Most of the races are three-way races with two challengers. The most crowded race is a four-way race for the District Court seat held by Judge L. Eric Johnson, who was appointed last year by Gov. Brian Sandoval and is running in his first election.

There could have been another four-way election. Vincent Ginn, a private attorney, initially filed to run in the Department 3 Justice of the Peace seat. He withdrew and moved to the Department 7 Justice of the Peace seat, which is a three-way race.

Ginn, also a former Las Vegas city prosecutor, said he switched because his initial choice was crowded.

Only two seats are two-way races. Seven of those candidates filed Friday before the deadline.

In the 2014 judicial elections, local district judge races were typically two-way races, and two Nevada Supreme Court justices, Kristina Pickering and Mark Gibbons, ran unopposed.

That's the case for the state's highest court in this election, too.

No candidates are challenging the incumbents serving in two seats on the Nevada Supreme Court. Incumbents Jim Hardesty and Ron Parraguirre are running unopposed for six-year terms.

This will be the first election for the three seats of the Appeals Court, which was formed in 2015 to hear appeals from district courts throughout the state and cut down on the Supreme Court's heavy workload. The three appointed incumbents — Michael Gibbons, Jerome Tao and Abbi Silver — were each named to two-year terms by Gov. Brian Sandoval in December 2014.

Only one incumbent, Tao, faces a challenger, Neil Durrant.

The filing period for candidates in all nonjudicial races will run March 7 through March 18. Early voting for primary elections will run May 28 through June 10; the primary election is June 14.

Early voting for general elections will run Oct. 22 through Nov. 4; the general election is Nov. 8.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1

STATE, LOCAL JUDICIAL FILINGS

Filings as of Friday night after filing deadline:

Nevada Supreme Court

(Base annual salary $170,000)

Seat A: Jim Hardesty*

Seat E: Ron Parraguirre*

Nevada Court of Appeals

(Base annual salary $165,000)

Department 1: Neil Durrant, Jerome Tao**

Department 2: Michael Gibbons**