Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones won’t seek re-election

Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones announced Monday that he will not run for re-election next year, citing discussions with his family and “the rigors of another campaign.”

Jones wrote in a statement that he would “work hard to elect another Democrat” to the seat.

The announcement came after Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama, R-Las Vegas, threw her hat in the race last week.

Days before that, former Las Vegas Councilwoman Victoria Seaman withdrew her candidacy for the seat after she accepted a job with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Earlier this year, a State Bar of Nevada disciplinary panel voted against recommending to strip Jones of his law license for his alleged involvement in an $80 million settlement the county paid to developer Jim Rhodes’ Gypsum Resources in 2024.

The bar, which wanted Jones disbarred, had alleged bribery and deceitful actions related to Gypsum’s proposed controversial housing project on Blue Diamond Hill.

Arguments in the disciplinary case had been made in litigation that led to the pricey settlement.

As an attorney representing a conservation group that opposed the development, Jones proposed that then-Commission Chair Steve Sisolak come out against the development, according to court documents. In exchange, the Save Red Rock group would drop a lawsuit it had filed against the county and endorse the future governor.

After he was elected to the commission, Jones deleted all text messages sent and received from his phone prior to a key vote in 2019 that delayed Gypsum’s proposal.

Jones said he did not remember why he deleted the messages, calling it a “stupid” mistake in his disciplinary hearing.

The independent disciplinary panel determined that Jones’ deal with Sisolak did not amount to bribery and split on whether Jones’ mass deletion of messages amounted to deceit.

It issued a reprimand and ordered Jones to stay out of trouble with the bar for six months.

The bar later petitioned to relitigate the case, and the disciplinary board had agreed to rehear it, Chief Bar Counsel Daniel Hooge said in June.

The Nevada Supreme Court, which oversees the bar, was evaluating the panel’s initial decision and will decide if a retrial is necessary, Hooge said.

Jones, a former Nevada state senator, was first elected to the County Commission in the 2018 midterms.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve Nevada in elected positions at the state and local level, and I am proud of the work I have done to advocate for better infrastructure, increase housing affordability, expand access to parks and natural spaces, diversify our economy, and expand behavioral health services,” he wrote in his statement. “I believe that I am but a caretaker of a legacy far greater than myself and the time has come for me to hand off that baton.”

No Democrat has publicly announced an intention to run. The filing period in Nevada opens in March, and the primaries are slated for June.

The seven-member commission currently has six Democrats and one Republican.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.