On November 5, 2024, Las Vegas voters will elect a new mayor. In June, voters selected Shelley Berkley and Victoria Seaman to continue their campaigns to the run-offs in the fall.
Shelley Berkley served as a U.S. congresswoman for Nevada’s first district (essentially east Las Vegas, Henderson, and Boulder City) from 1999 to 2013.
Berkley’s Experience in Congress
“If you’re a good congressperson, you follow the lead of your constituents,” Berkley says. With the fastest growing veteran and senior population in the United States, issues that were important to her veterans and seniors were essential to her, such as social security, Medicare, and prescription medication costs. Five thousand to seven thousand new residents were moving to her district monthly, so funding to build more schools became a priority to her. “Back in those days, we were opening a new school every three weeks,” she says.
Your community “also determines who you’re going to hire,” she says. She hired Spanish speakers, African-Americans, and older adults from the local community to work in her congressional office so that the people in her district had representation.
When asked about her most memorable accomplishments in Congress, she said one of them was getting funding to build a Veterans Administration Complex in North Las Vegas. “With several hundred thousand veterans in the Las Vegas Valley. It became very obvious that we needed a full-service VA hospital so that my veterans didn’t have to go to Long Beach,” Berkley says.
“There were very monumental national and international issues occurring during my service to the people of District One,” Berkley says, “but it’s the constituents that you take care of first.”
When she was first elected to Congress, Bill Clinton was being impeached. Then came 9/11, the Iraq War, and the Great Recession.
“It’s on-the-job training. Of course. Obviously, nothing prepares you for these things,” she says.
Coming with the territory of being in Congress, Berkley also had the opportunity to vote on key national issues. Berkley voted yes in support of the Stock Act— a bill that does not allow government officials to engage in insider trading or profit off of nonpublic information. Berkley voted against the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act— a bill that does not allow tax dollars to fund abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or the woman’s life and does not allow taxpayers to deduct medical expenses related to abortion costs. She voted against raising the federal debt limit from $14.3 trillion to $16.7 trillion in 2011 and the Free Trade Agreement with Korea. Berkley voted yes on a bill that supports displaying the U.S. motto “In God We Trust” in public buildings and schools.
Deciding to Run for Mayor
Following her time in Congress, she became the Senior Vice President at Touro University, where she learned how to run a post-graduate medical school and balance multi-million-dollar budgets for nine and a half years. She recently retired from her position.
After leaving Touro University, Berkley began thinking to herself, “Now, what are you going to do?” With all of the knowledge and experience she had acquired; she didn’t want it to go to waste.
Since her husband is still practicing medicine, and “we’re not beach people, we’re not golfers, so what am I going to do with my time?” Berkley wondered. Then, she asked herself what she loved.
As the granddaughter of immigrants who came to The United States to escape the holocaust with no money and just a dream of a better life, “public service is always my way of giving something back to this country,” Berkley says.
She is passionate about being a public servant, so she decided to run for mayor.
Jan Jones Blackhurst, the former mayor of Las Vegas, says, “Politics is an art and science.” The art is how you connect with people, and the science is knowing how to accomplish things in government. “Shelley has the gift of knowing both.” Jones Blackhurst says.
“If it doesn’t do anything for my constituents. It isn’t something I should be working on. You got to learn to distinguish what’s important and what’s not,” Berkley says.
Public Safety
When you go door to door, one of the critical issues is public safety, despite the decrease in crime in Las Vegas. “But, people don’t feel secure, and if they don’t feel secure, then they are not secure,” Berkley says.
While the mayor and city council are limited in ways they can improve public safety, she explained that the City of Las Vegas and Clark County fund the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, so ensuring Metro has the resources they need becomes the responsibility of our city leaders.
Homelessness
Another issue for voters is homelessness: “If we don’t get this issue under control, it is going to consume us,” Berkley says. Being that Las Vegas is a tourist-based economy, homelessness is a major issue. She acknowledges Catholic Charities, The Rescue Mission, and The Courtyard are all doing wonderful things, but it isn’t getting them permanently off the streets.
Affordable Housing
This is where another major issue, affordable housing, comes into play. “I think we have to get away from the stigma of section eight housing in your backyard,” Berkley continues, “Affordable housing means middle-income housing that people can afford like service workers.” Her father was a waiter growing up; they never had a whole lot, but they bought a home near Valley High School and had two cars in the garage. “That’s pretty much what people still want for their families,” she says.
One way Berkley would like to mitigate the rapid increase in housing costs and shrinking inventory is to see if there is any way to prevent institutional investors from buying up all of the single-family homes and apartment complexes in Las Vegas. Additionally, continuing to build more homes will help bring the prices down. She adds that there are a lot more options to explore.
Economic Growth
An issue intertwined with affordable housing and homelessness is economic growth. Berkley was a Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance board member for ten years. “The mission of the alliance is to attract businesses that pay good salaries, that are energy efficient, and don’t use a lot of water,” she says, and those are the businesses she would like to see coming to Las Vegas.
While she loves the gaming industry, she doesn’t believe we should depend on it. She wants to expand beyond call centers and warehouses. She wants businesses that come to Las Vegas to be able to give the constituents a future. Berkley’s vision is to focus on good jobs, not minimum wage jobs, where workers must rely on food stamps and subsidies to get by.
Education
Then, while public education is not under the mayor’s jurisdiction, she hopes to advocate for it because she believes a proper education goes hand in hand with economic growth and development. “To me, education not only changes someone’s life, but it changes the direction of your family,” she continues, “it’s the very bedrock of who we are as Americans.”
“I believe a strong democracy is dependent on a well-educated electorate making informed decisions at the ballot box,” Berkley says.
You can find out more about Shelley Berkley and her campaign for Las Vegas Mayor on her website: https://www.berkley4mayor.com/