Seroka, Fiore win LV seats
Beers mum after Ward 2 defeat; Ross loses Ward 6 nail-biter
The Las Vegas City Council will have a decidedly different look for the next four years, as Steve Seroka triumphed in his challenge to defeat Councilman Bob Beers, and former Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore will return to public office after pulling out a narrow victory.
Come July, one third of the council will turn over.
Seroka, a retired Air Force colonel, gained an early lead that widened through the night. He drew 3,979 votes to Beers’ 3,387 — ousting the incumbent with 54 percent of the vote to represent Ward 2.
“Regardless of how this turns out, I’m very happy, overwhelmed, with how graciously people have received me,” Seroka said after the first returns were released. “It’s been a wonderful experience running for office.”
The Ward 6 race was much tighter — Fiore pulled in 51 percent, 3,885 votes, to Ross’ 49 percent, or 3,720 votes, according to the unofficial final results.
Beers left his results watching party shortly after 9:30 p.m. and declined to comment on his failed bid for a second full term.
Earlier in the night, Seroka was optimistic as the second round of votes showed a widening lead. A lively group of family members and supporters surrounded him at a Downtown Summerlin eatery. Seroka called his campaign a “grass-roots effort from the beginning.”
With one voting precinct left, Fiore’s family room erupted in cheers and popped a bottle
LV COUNCIL
of champagne when it became apparent she would win.
“This race is never, ever handed to anyone,” Fiore said. “We earned every single vote. Every single person in here put their blood, sweat and tears into this campaign. I’m excited to give this ward back to the people who live here. This is their seat.”
Nasty campaigns
Beers, a former state lawmaker and certified public accountant, was aiming to hang onto his seat for a second full term on the council.
Seroka launched a challenge in January, and the proposal to develop the Badlands golf course, which the Las Vegas Planning Commission was slated to discuss Tuesday night, drove much of the rhetoric in the race.
Two political action committees with a penchant for Photoshop added to the flood of campaign mail Ward 2 voters received over the past few months, evoking everything from Uncle Sam to “Top Gun” to criticize the candidates.
The Citizens for Better Neighborhoods PAC, an anti-seroka group, started by bashing him for his stance on the Badlands issue. The mailers grew personal in recent weeks, divulging salacious details from Seroka’s ex-wife’s decade-old divorce filing.
Between the two PACS and three candidates, including Christina Roush, who was eliminated in the primary, more than $1.1 million flowed into the fight for one seat on the council, a job with an annual salary of less than $78,000. Beers earned the most primary votes — 42 percent — but was short of the 50 percent needed to lock up an April victory.
After 12 years representing Ward 6, Councilman Steve Ross has served the three-term maximum. Ross and Fiore handily beat out seven other hopefuls in the April primary.
The Ward 6 race grew testy, but the candidates sparred through statements and parody Twitter accounts rather than in person. Days after the primary, Ross challenged Fiore to a series of debates, but the two never met in a debate or forum setting.
At Fiore’s house, her grandchildren jumped on the trampoline, and 50 friends and family gathered for food and dessert.
Fiore has been no stranger to headlines, from getting involved in negotiations that led to the end of the 2016 armed standoff at Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge to modeling for calendars with firearms. Fiore unsuccessfully ran last year for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District seat.
Ross has never held public office. She ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2012 as a Democrat in state Senate District 18, losing to Republican Scott Hammond.
Some of Ross’ 15 grandchildren darted outside, playing with toy swords, eating tacos and swinging golf clubs on a mini golf course overlooking the mountains as results rolled in.
She likened her race to “the little engine that could.”
“This is a celebration,” Ross said from her home Tuesday night. “I ran a great race.”
Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383
0340. Follow @Jamiemunksrj on Twitter. Staff writer Briana Erickson contributed to this report.