Nevada's statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights group has endorsed from the governor's race down to the Clark County School Board — and taken a position on two ballot questions.

Silver State Equality has built out a 2026 slate that now runs 47 candidates deep, from the top of the statewide ticket to two school board seats, plus recommendations on a pair of ballot questions.

Nevada's statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights nonprofit rolled out the last of the endorsements across late August and early September, capping a cycle of announcements with five races on Sept. 1. Three weeks later, on Sept. 25, the organization holds its annual Silver State Equality Awards at the Soleia Beach Rooftop Pool at The Vanderpump Hotel on the south Strip.

State Director André C. Wade has framed the slate as a response to conditions in Washington, saying the Trump administration is advancing an aggressive anti-LGBTQ+ agenda and that Nevadans need officials at every level willing to stand up to discrimination.

Top of the ticket

Governor — Aaron Ford. The two-term attorney general faces Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo in what the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up, one of the most competitive governor's races in the country. Wade praised Ford for putting people before politics. Ford, in a statement, pledged to keep defending civil rights and said discrimination has no place in Nevada. If he wins, he'd be the state's first Black governor.

Lieutenant Governor — Sandra Jauregui. The Assembly majority leader and Oct. 1 shooting survivor was a driving force behind the constitutional amendment enshrining marriage equality in Nevada — a point both she and Wade emphasized. Jauregui didn't pull punches at her opponent, accusing incumbent Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony and what she called his MAGA allies of running a culture of corruption.

Attorney General — Nicole Cannizzaro. The state Senate majority leader is running for the seat Ford is vacating.

Secretary of State — Cisco Aguilar. The incumbent is seeking a second term.

Treasurer — Dr. Tya Mathis-Coleman. Deputy treasurer of college savings and administrator of the Millennium Scholarship, she won the June primary with 55% and carries the endorsement of her termed-out boss, Zach Conine.

Congress

Silver State Equality endorsed all four Democratic House candidates: Dina Titus in CD1, Susie Lee in CD3 and Steven Horsford in CD4, plus Teresa Benitez-Thompson in the open CD2 seat. The former Assembly majority leader is chasing a Northern Nevada district Democrats have never won — Cook rates it R+7 — but it's open for the first time in 15 years with Rep. Mark Amodei stepping aside.

Ballot questions

The group recommends yes on Question 6, which it frames as protecting reproductive rights, and no on Question 7, which it describes as a voter suppression measure.

The Legislature

The bulk of the slate is legislative: seven state Senate candidates and 25 in the Assembly. Three are openly LGBTQ+ — Sen. Melanie Scheible in Senate District 6, Cecelia Gonzalez in Assembly District 16 and Ryan Hampton in Assembly District 9. The Assembly list runs from downtown Las Vegas to Reno and includes returning names like Selena Torres-Fossett, Venicia Considine, David Orentlicher, Elaine Marzola, Shea Backus and Tracy Brown-May.

Local races

Clark County Commission, District E — Tick Segerblom. Mayor of North Las Vegas — Daniele Monroe-Moreno, the Assembly speaker pro tempore and state Democratic Party chair. Mayor of Reno — Kate Marshall, the former lieutenant governor and state treasurer who took 45% of the June primary and faces vice-mayor Kathleen Taylor. Washoe County Commission, District 5 — Brian Wadsworth, who is openly LGBTQ+.

Two Clark County School Board seats round it out: incumbent Brenda Zamora in District D, who is openly LGBTQ+ and faces David Gomez, and incumbent Linda Cavazos in District G, a family therapist on the board since 2017 who faces Paul Casey. Both races skipped the primary — only two candidates filed in each — and go straight to Nov. 3.

Those two seats carry weight past the obvious. School boards set the policies governing curriculum, restroom access, and name and pronoun practices, and they decide how a district responds when LGBTQ+ students are targeted. In a state whose Legislature meets every other year, trustees make the consequential calls in between.

Silver State Equality's published criteria are strict: a candidate must be 100% in support of LGBTQ+ equality, must be viable, and must complete a questionnaire and interview. In local races, the group says it endorses only exceptional LGBTQ+ candidates, with the aim of building a bench for higher office — which makes the two straight incumbents on the school board list a deliberate exception.

The awards night

The Sept. 25 reception honors two people who have shaped how Nevada talks about LGBTQ+ issues from very different chairs. Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley receives the Equality Ally Award. Jon Ralston, founder and CEO of The Nevada Independent, receives the Equality Advocate Award — a nod to a journalist whose Carson City coverage has been required reading for most of four decades.

Doors open at 6 p.m. at 3595 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Tickets and sponsorships are at silverstateequality.org.