Las Vegas mayoral candidate Shelley Berkley’s campaign manager Tom Letizia called opponent and city Councilwoman Victoria Seaman a “bitch” to her face after a debate last week, according to a video obtained by The Nevada Independent.

In the video, which was shot before a KXNT Las Vegas mayoral debate on May 9 between top-polling candidates Berkley and Seaman, Letizia tells Seaman, “People hate you” before moving closer to her and putting a finger in her face.

“Did you get the bitch stuff?” Seaman asks as Letizia says, “Don’t come up to me with your bullshit.”

Seaman then tells Letizia, “Get away from me now,” — re-emphasizing the “now!” Letizia then says, “You’re a bitch,” before walking away.

The episode underscores the palpable tension between the campaigns of Berkley, a former Democratic congresswoman with a long history in Nevada politics, and Seaman, a member of the Las Vegas City Council and Republican former assemblywoman. The two are considered front-runners in the race to replace term-limited Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, the first mayoral election in nearly 30 years to not feature a member of the Goodman family on the ballot.

In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Letizia said he apologized to Seaman but that the race is “not about me.”

“Sometimes raw emotions get in the way of campaigns,” Letizia wrote. “I let this get the best of me and I apologized to the councilwoman. It’s not about me, it’s about who will be best for our next mayor of Las Vegas.”

The antipathy between Letizia and Seaman attests to the insular nature of Las Vegas politics. While Letizia declined to explain what precipitated his anger toward Seaman in the video, the two formerly worked together — he managed her successful 2022 re-election campaign for city council. 

In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Seaman said she was “disappointed by Tom’s behavior” but confirmed that Letizia apologized and said she accepted it.

“I want to keep this campaign about important issues affecting Las Vegas, and I hope that Tom’s candidate, Shelley Berkley, will do the same,” Seaman said. “There is no room for name-calling or making catty remarks while debating these issues such as public safety, homelessness, education and affordable housing.”

With a crowded field of 14 candidates, a recent poll from Emerson College/KLAS-TV/The Hill showed Berkley and Seaman at the top of the pack, but neither coming close to the 50 percent threshold needed to win the race outright at the June 11 primary. The top two vote-getters would move on to a Nov. 5 runoff in that scenario, making June’s election widely considered a contest between Berkley, Seaman and Democratic City Councilman Cedric Crear.

A fixture in Clark County races, Letizia ran each of the last six winning Las Vegas campaigns for Oscar and Carolyn Goodman. 

Berkley, Seaman and Crear traded barbs about the development of the Badlands golf course and their varying levels of experience at The Nevada Independent’s Wednesday night mayoral forum.