North Las Vegas mayoral race shaping up as two-way battle

North Las Vegas voters face a pivotal decision next year in choosing who will lead the city through its next phase of development.

Just over a decade ago, North Las Vegas was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Today, the city tells a dramatically different story: The city's assessed valuation more than tripled to exceed $13 billion, officials said.

North Las Vegas is still struggling with the high unemployment rate plaguing the rest of the state, but further growth is on the horizon with 5,000 acres of land waiting to be developed at Apex Industrial Park.

Two candidates have emerged as mayoral front-runners: City Councilman Scott Black and Nevada Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno. Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown is term-limited.

While the two candidates similarly prioritize North Las Vegas’ economy, Black is looking to continue what he believes has worked for the city while Monroe-Moreno wants to bring the combination of her local roots and what she learned in the Legislature to City Hall.

Monroe-Moreno, the Assembly’s speaker pro tempore and Ways and Means Committee chair this past session, is one of the most influential Democrats in Nevada. She also chairs the state Democratic Party.

But her career runs through North Las Vegas’ city government. She served as a corrections officer with the local police department before joining state government. A frequent attendee at North Las Vegas City Council meetings, Monroe-Moreno said she at one time thought she would run for the council.

“The only thing different with this race … is that I now have expanded my skill set and the tools in my toolbox to bring home now to the city council,” she said. As Ways and Means chair, she said, “I was there and able to navigate the state through an economic deficit and an economic surplus.”

She said she also would be utilizing the relationships developed through her time in state government, whether it’s Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley — who Monroe-Moreno said was excited about her decision to run — or Nevada’s federal delegation and officials in other municipalities.

That experience and those relationships will be important to expand higher education offerings in North Las Vegas, she said. UNLV’s proposed north campus is six times the size of its main campus, according to the university, though the land is currently overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

Monroe-Moreno said she could also bring ideas from the Legislature to the city. With the cost of living being top of mind for the constituents she’s met in the opening weeks of her campaign, she threw around the idea of limiting the number of homes that can be purchased by a corporation. Similar legislation died this year in Carson City after Gov. Joe Lombardo requested Republican legislators kill the bill.

Nevertheless, Monroe-Moreno said she would keep an eye out for ways for residents, including the elderly, to be able to afford living in North Las Vegas.

“It’s also the seniors who moved to North Las Vegas because they wanted to live out their golden years,” Monroe-Moreno said. “They don’t want to be a homeowner. They just want to rent and enjoy life. And their rents are going up, and (so is) the cost of food.”

Black, who names public safety as his top priority alongside economic development, will rely on the relationships he’s made within city government. First elected to the city council in 2017, he said he wanted to continue the efforts of the current body.

While the makeup of the city council will be different after the 2026 election, the mayor pro tempore said the board was “unified” and that he’d continue the council members’ shared commitment to “lift and elevate everyone in our community” if elected mayor.

“All due respect to folks that do the work in Carson City, I’ve been on the ground for the last eight years,” Black said, “meeting neighbors, listening to concerns, voting on budgets and contracts and listening to plans and ideas.”

Black also noted that he joined the council right when the city was “starting to turn around.”

Goynes-Brown said because of their close working relationship, Black was the only candidate she’d spoken to since the campaign launched.

“He’s a great community leader. He works tirelessly for his ward,” Goynes-Brown said. “We work very well, with a like vision. And like I keep saying over and over and over and over: It’s about what’s best for our residents.”

Monroe-Moreno said she was looking to schedule a time to meet with the mayor.

Black also promoted City Hall’s Small Business Connector, a program in collaboration with UNLV that provides workshops, training and networking opportunities for business owners and entrepreneurs.

Being a “business-friendly” local government will allow for North Las Vegas’ recent economic growth to continue, Black said.

He also said he had immersed himself “in all things Apex” Industrial Park over the past few years, also serving on the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s board of directors. With recent federal legislation easing infrastructure and utility permitting, including for water, the 5,000 acres of developable land in Apex is primed to grow under whoever is next mayor.

“That’s really the secret sauce,” Black said. “We already are thriving in Apex, even with the old, antiquated, less-streamlined process. The way I look at it is: We already have built a very powerful engine out there. Now we’re able to supercharge it.”

Monroe-Moreno said she wanted to ensure that the industries coming into Apex would be bringing not just minimum wage jobs, but also work that can form careers for North Las Vegas residents.

One of North Las Vegas’ economic hubs was shut down for weeks this year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a sister location of Broadacres Marketplace, a 44-acre swap meet.

The city is also 41% Hispanic or Latino, according to the Census Bureau, the population most targeted under President Donald Trump’s attempt at mass deportation.

With public safety being a top priority, Black said, “It’s a matter of protecting the people that live in our community, enforcing the laws that we’re in charge of enforcing … and helping people feel safe,” when asked about how he’d approach local ICE activity.

As for Broadacres, he said he was there the night of the reopening with the mayor, whose support is touted on Black’s website, and other council members.

Black said the city would support Broadacres, other shops and residents “within the confines of what our responsibilities are, which is to provide public safety and business supports.”

Citing her law enforcement background, Monroe-Moreno emphasized that anyone committing a violent crime should be “dealt with” regardless of immigration status. However, she says people can’t ignore what happened to Broadacres while acknowledging there’s little she can do about federal immigration policy.

“This is an issue that, as a mayor and a council, we have to approach with humanity,” Monroe-Moreno said. “It’s not just about the vendors. These are families who want to keep a roof over their head, who want to work and oftentimes pay taxes.”

“It’s just so much more than an immigration question, it’s a humanity question,” she said.

The 10-day filing period for the North Las Vegas mayoral election officially opens March 2, 2026. If more than two candidates file, a primary election would take place June 9, 2026.