First-Time Candidate’s Unconventional Campaign Said No To Corporate/PAC Money, Emphasized Light Rail, Shunned Traditional Election Marketing — And She Won Clark County Commissioner Race
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — In a town where the corporate Lords of the Strip like MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Las Vegas call the shots in this one-dimensional, tourism-focused market, a 31-year-old woman raised in the suburban sprawl of southwest Las Vegas Valley has turned Las Vegas politics upside down.
Minja Yan will succeed Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones after the underdog with the unconventional campaign landed in the winner’s circle as the longest of political long shots on Election Day.
Yan won Clark County District F in southwest Las Vegas, home to more than 320,000 residents in a metropolitan area of 2.4 million and counting.
Here’s the shocker: the UNLV grad beat two established political names — Gov. Joe Lombardo-backed Republican Heidi Kasama and former Republican legislator/independent Becky Harris — without a penny in political contributions from the Strip. Her general election win came after she stunned Clark County by winning the Democratic Party primary.
Kasama received thousands of dollars from companies like South Point and Switch, while Harris drew election contributions from Penta Building Group and M Resort operator Penn Entertainment.
“I was not contacted by the Strip hotels or any property owners on the Strip,” Yan said Wednesday. Her only contact was filling out a generic candidate’s policy positions form for Wynn employees. But there was no Strip influence on her campaign.
When one of her political supporters — Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom — found out that Yan won without the support of the Strip he laughed in disbelief.
“Whatever she did to win, you have to bottle it,” Segerblom told LVSportsBiz.com Wednesday.
In a county where conventional strategy means local companies like Las Vegas Paving making political donations to county commissioners who then routinely approve Las Vegas Paving contracts, Yan shunned all corporate and PAC political contributions.
“The policies and decisions I make at the county commission represent the residents, the people of District F,” Yan told LVSportsBiz.com in a sit down interview at the Clark County Government Center.
“I decided to not accept any corporate or PAC money. I wanted to make my companies and decisions represent the citizens, people and residents of District F and not the corporate interests.”
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Yan was 11 years old when she came to the metro Las Vegas area, attending Tarkanian Middle School and Desert Oasis High School before UNLV.
She’s a commercial real estate professional whose expertise is land use policy, transportation and public lands protection.
The first-time candidate advocated for light rail to remove cars from roads in a county that has a reputation for designing roads that are behind the times and dangerous for people who walk and ride bicycles.
Yan emphasized light rail in her upbeat and well-designed social media posts and shunned professional political marketing in favor of relying on her young friends who crafted clever videos and Instagram/TikTok spots.
What candidate uses light rail as a campaign plank here in Las Vegas, which thinks Teslas in a tunnel is mass transit?
Yan did — and her emphasis on improved land use planning and alternative transportation ran counter to the tired, old campaigns of establishment candidates.
Her biggest ally on Clark County’s seven-member governing body will likely be veteran politician Segerblom, who was re-elected to his District E. Segerblom said her district has three times the number of registered voters than his district and was amazed and impressed by her unconventional campaign.
Yan also wants to work on road safety issues, so she might find a political friend in Clark County Commission Chairman Michael Naft, who has adopted that topic.
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A Clark County commissioner can potentially be one of the most powerful positions in Nevada.
Steve Sisolak used the county commission chairman post as a spring board to win the governor’s job in 2018.
There are a lot of 7-0 votes on the commission, including approving the controversial annual F1 car race that causes traffic problems and business disruptions in the Strip corridor from early September to late December. This year’s race is Nov. 19-21.
Yan wants to take time to talk with her future colleagues on the governing panel and understands that she will need to work with other commissioners to realize her goals.
Commissioners traditionally take office the first Monday in January after their election.
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