While the presidential inauguration is taking place today in Washington, D.C., here at Our Town Reno we focus exclusively on local matters, so we thought it would be a good day to look at how our next mayoral race is configuring itself.
With Mayor Hillary Schieve now termed out, the 2026 Reno mayor race is seemingly wide open, but with the state’s former lieutenant governor, Democrat Kate Marshall, already the early frontrunner.
Her late December filing of contributions and expenses report for seeking the mayoral position indicated she had already over $124,000 on hand to run.
Marshall has a lofty resume which also includes being Nevada’s state treasurer from 2007 to 2014, and serving as a Senior Advisor to Governors in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs from 2021 to 2023.
A doctor of law graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, she previously worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, investigating white-collar crime and large corporations in northern Nevada.
Her previously active account on X has gone silent since early August though.
Meanwhile, council member Devon Reese, currently facing more ethics violations scrutiny, was recently on Facebook writing he’s receiving encouragement from others to run for the Reno mayor position in 2026.
His post from January 7th which described how the next mayor should lead “with vision, dedication, and a focus on real issues” got a reported nine comments, only two of which were visible from our vantage point.
Reese is also a Democrat, but is perceived economically by many as in favor of big development, the Jacobs Entertainment project, the controversial business improvement district including its influential casinos, and part of the current group very much running the show through appointments, large developer and casino donations and staff decision making.
From the right, Eddie Lorton, who lost to Reese in 2020 in an at-large election, and placed second to Schieve in 2018 and 2022, and far behind in 2014, still has his Reno Mayor page going, while his Facebook still indicates “I am George “Eddie” Lorton and I am running for Reno Mayor.” We emailed him to find out if he would confirm this for this next go round, but have not heard back.
Lorton prevented Jessica Sferrazza, the daughter of a former longtime Reno mayor, from running for mayor herself in 2014 with a successful legal action, which ultimately led to Schieve’s candidacy and election, putting a certain circle of influence in power.
Many elected positions locally are filled with initial mid term replacement appointments who then get large donations and elected.
It’s still early, but it will be interesting to see if the current local political trends persist or if there will be real change in our highest elected city position come 2026.