The two candidates running for Las Vegas City Council’s Ward 2 seat said they want to address the city’s housing crunch and improve public safety, with both citing the unsafe use of electric bikes and scooters as a top concern among their prospective constituents.
Luke McCarthy, a longtime Clark County firefighter, and Shannon Nordstrom, an attorney who formerly served as an appointed Las Vegas Municipal Court judge, will face off again after a three-way race for the seat advanced to a runoff. Election Day is Nov. 3.
McCarthy bested Nordstrom by 355 votes in June’s primaries, but he didn’t get the more than 50 percent of the vote needed to win the seat outright.
They’re vying to replace Councilwoman Kara Kelley, who was appointed by the council nearly a year ago after Councilwoman Victoria Seaman stepped down to work for the Trump administration. As a condition of her appointment, Kelley agreed to not run for a full term.
More than 116,000 Las Vegas residents call Ward 2 home. It encompasses parts of the west valley, including Summerlin.
McCarthy held a significant fundraising advantage after having raised about $130,000 in the first half of 2026, compared with Nordstrom’s roughly $50,000, according to financial disclosure records.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal spoke to McCarthy and Nordstrom about their platforms.
The candidates
Nordstrom has been a lawyer for more than 20 years, having served as a hearing commissioner and alternate and interim municipal court judge from 2018 until 2023, she said.
“I believe that Ward 2 deserves a representative who is going to show up and work hard for them, even when it’s not election season, and be their voice and partner at City Hall.” Nordstrom said. “And it’s my goal to make city government more transparent, predictable and accessible for the people it serves.”
McCarthy has been a firefighter for about a quarter-century, and once served on a hazardous materials team, he said. He’s also been a board member for Nevada Child Seekers, a nonprofit dedicated to finding missing children.
“I have been on the front lines of society’s problems for several decades, and I’m not done serving,” McCarthy said. “And when you’re closest to the problems — like I am as a firefighter — you’re closer to the solutions.”
Public safety
Both candidates cited public safety as a top priority.
Nordstrom said that one of her initial actions as council member would be to meet with first responders.
“I would like to hear from boots on the ground how things are working in all practical application,” Nordstrom said, “because sometimes there’s a disconnect between what the people in charge think is happening, versus what’s actually happening.”
McCarthy said he would advocate to increase funding for public safety.
“I’ve seen firsthand the problems of homelessness, crime, and I want to make sure our neighborhoods are kept safe,” he said.
On the campaign trail, Nordstrom said she has heard resident concerns about electric recreational vehicles, traffic infrastructure and flow, homelessness and burglaries, depending on the neighborhood.
McCarthy declared electric bicycles a big problem.
“We need to curtail those vehicles,” he said. “I’ve seen too many accidents firsthand of kids crashing them into cars by themselves. We need to make sure our citizens are kept safe.”
Housing and homelessness
Like much of the U.S., the Las Vegas Valley is experiencing an affordable housing crisis.
McCarthy touted recent housing developments approved at City Hall. He said the government needs to open up more acres for continued building.
“If you go back to 1950, according to the numbers I’ve looked at, we regularly develop about 4,500 acres a year,” he said. “We need to increase that if we’re going to take care and tackle the housing affordability, we need more supply.”
Nordstrom would work to remove red tape around permitting, a common complaint she hears about from the business community, she said.
“The more efficient we can make it,” she added, “that will reduce the starting costs for any of the homes that are built.”
Clark County this year reported an increase in homelessness.
Nordstrom said she launched two programs geared toward homeless defendants during her tenure as a judge.
“It was accountability with compassion, and those programs addressed the issues that those specific individuals were facing,” she said. “It was not a one-size-fits-all program.”
She said she would examine current city programs to determine what works and what doesn’t.
“We can’t treat every unhoused person the same,” Nordstrom said. “That does not work.”
McCarthy said he would support Campus for Hope, a planned 900-bed facility at Charleston and Jones boulevards that will also offer social services to those affected by housing insecurity. It is expected to open in 2027.
“I think we need to bring wraparound services to the folks who are homeless,” he said, adding that he regularly encounters the population as a firefighter.
Mental health care and drug addiction treatment is also needed to combat homelessness, McCarthy said.
“They need a place to shower and clean up. They need a place to get on their feet,” he said. “I think the Campus for Hope is going to address that, and I think the city needs to continue to support the building of housing for veterans.”
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.
