With Reno’s ward redistricting taking effect this election cycle, Ward 1 will have a new city council member come 2025, with long time councilwoman Jenny Brekhus now termed out.
The downtown battle seems to be the most likely where an incumbent could be upset in Reno, given the dynamics of that particular race between Kathleen Taylor and Frank Perez.
Taylor was initially selected as a councilwoman as a replacement for the current Ward 5 seat in September 2022. Interestingly, Brekhus boycotted that process, saying she was in favor of a special election instead to replace Neoma Jardon, who had left the position to become executive director of the Downtown Reno Partnership in the summer of 2022.
When the city’s wards were redrawn to add a sixth one, after the at-large seat was eliminated, to the displeasure of Mayor Hillary Schieve, the new chosen map, conveniently enough for all initially selected council members, Taylor, Devon Reese, and Miguel Martinez, each gave them a race where they didn’t have to compete against each other.
Martinez is still in his center eastern Ward 3, where he seems to have a strong chance to win, as does Reese now in the western Ward 5.
In the new southern Ward 6, where all the candidates were new, Brandi Anderson is expected to glide to victory.
In Ward 1, Taylor has had a huge fundraising advantage flooding the district’s mailboxes with repeated flyers and buying up noticeable billboards. As with other incumbents, she’s received tens of thousands of dollars from casinos and local developers. But money or mailers and big signs are not the only factor. Perez has quite a few signs up, he’s texting Ward 1 residents asking for their concerns and his Instagram indicated he recently had a fundraiser hosted by former Democratic Lt. Governor Kate Marshall.
“When we win this race, we are going to make sure all of our neighborhoods are clean and safe, that we have opportunities for our young people and seniors, and that we prioritize community safety,” the votefrankperez account indicated on a recent post.
On a recent weekend Local 169, the NV State Democratic Party, the Harris Walz campaign and County Commissioner Marilyn Garcia took part in door to door canvasing in northeast Reno, while more recently he hosted US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
Given allegiances, with high turnout expected, it’s likely many Harris/Walz voters in the downtown area will vote for Perez. Even though it’s a non partisan race, Perez is the Democrat here and Taylor is a Republican.
Taylor has also been active on Instagram, as well as on X, highlighting her current council activities, her daughters, previous experience in business and as chair of the Planning Commission.
In the primary, the 49-year-old Taylor got less than 30% of the vote, and Perez was less than 200 votes behind, with over 1,600 votes for other candidates, meaning this race is very much wide open.
In addition to downtown, the ward covers the university area and central parts of 4th street, including the Nevada Cares Campus.
We reached out to both candidates and their teams before the primaries, but Taylor ignored us, and Perez said he was too busy at the time.
Perez is 32, works as a city of Reno code compliance officer, and was previously helping Democrat State Senator Edgar Flores and serving as chair of the Washoe County Library Board.
Based on answers he’s given to journalists, and the comments he’s made on his social media, it’s unclear whether if elected he would be an establishment type of representative, or whether like Brekhus he would be more critical of what staff proposes before our elected body, most often in favor of developers, police and those who contribute to the campaigns of incumbents.