The 2011 Las Vegas mayoral election took place on June 7, 2011.

Oscar Goodman Oscar Baylin Goodman (born July 26, 1939) is an American attorney and politician. A Democrat-turned- independent, Goodman was the mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada from 1999 to 2011. His wife, Carolyn Goodman, succeeded him as mayor in 2011. Early ...

, the incumbent Las Vegas mayor, was ineligible to run for a fourth term due to term limits. His wife,

Carolyn Goodman Carolyn Goodman ( Goldmark; born March 25, 1939) is an American politician who served as mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 2011 until 2024. She is the second female mayor of Las Vegas and is married to former mayor and attorney Oscar Goodman. Sh ...

, entered the race and won 37 percent of the vote in the initial round of voting on April 5, 2011.

Chris Giunchigliani Christina R. Giunchigliani (; born November 27, 1954), commonly known as Chris G., is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a Clark County Commissioner from 2007 until 2019. Giunchigliani has been active in Nevada politic ...

, a

Clark County Commission The Clark County Commission is the governmental organization that governs and runs Clark County, Nevada, providing services to the unincorporated areas. Its offices are located at the Clark County Government Center in Downtown Las Vegas. Compos ...

er, came in second with 17 percent. The race included 18 candidates, and because none received more than 50 percent of the vote, a

runoff election The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

was held on June 7. Goodman easily won against Giunchigliani with 60 percent of the vote. She took office on July 6, 2011, and is set to leave in 2024, having won two more terms.

Candidates

Incumbent Las Vegas mayor

, a former attorney, had been elected to three terms between 1999 and 2007; he was

term-limited A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, whe ...

from running again. His wife

, who also lacked political experience, said in 2009 that she would not consider a mayoral run unless she felt that the right candidate had not emerged. Carolyn Goodman founded the private

Meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable condition ...

school in 1984, and ran it for the next 25 years. The 2011 mayoral election had the most crowded candidate field in decades, with 18 people entering the race. Among the candidates were

ers

and Larry Brown, and Steve Ross, a

Las Vegas City Council Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave De ...

man. Goodman and Giunchigliani filed their candidacies on February 2, 2011, two days before the filing deadline. Goodman was quickly seen as the frontrunner. Giunchigliani initially did not plan to run, but changed her mind following encouragement and after researching her odds of winning. The top contenders were Brown, Giunchigliani, Goodman, Ross, and businessman Victor Chaltiel. Other candidates included retired car salesman Joe Falco, who previously ran in the 2003 mayoral election; and Ed Uehling, a real estate investor who previously made an unsuccessful run for

Sheriff of Clark County The Sheriff of Clark County, officially The Sheriff of the County of Clark, is the chief law enforcement officer of Clark County, Nevada. The Sheriff heads the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, is elected by the citizens of Clark County, ...

in 1994.

Election results

The election was held on April 5, 2011. Goodman won 37 percent of the vote, with Giunchigliani in second place, the latter candidate beating Brown by 15 votes. Because no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote, a

was held between Goodman and Giunchigliani on June 7, 2011. Goodman easily prevailed, winning 60 percent of the vote. Although Giunchigliani had the advantage of political experience, Goodman was a popular candidate for her personality, which was seen as a contributing factor in her victory. She spent $600,000 in advertising, and her husband also campaigned for her. Jobs and the economy were top issues in the election, and Goodman vowed to continue her husband's efforts to revitalize

downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming Las Vegas, Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambl ...

. However, she dismissed suggestions that her candidacy was a way for her husband to continue serving through her: "I am very much my own person. I don't listen to him. He doesn't listen to me. We're very much individuals." Goodman took office on July 6, 2011. She was re-elected in the 2015 and 2019 mayoral elections, and is set to leave office in 2024, marking a 25-year legacy for the Goodmans in Las Vegas.

First round

Runoff

References

{{United States elections, 2011 Mayoral elections in Las Vegas 2011 Nevada elections

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...