Lifelong Democrat Bryce Henderson stood out among the many Trump gear-wearing attendees at a Las Vegas Mediterranean restaurant who were celebrating Victoria Seaman finishing in second place in the June mayoral primary and advancing to the general election.

His support for Seaman, a Republican, stemmed from the Las Vegas city councilwoman’s efforts to resolve issues surrounding The Animal Foundation of Las Vegas in 2023 that he said officials long ignored. He figured Seaman would, too, but a year earlier, she paid a “surprise visit” to the facility and used the word “horrible” to describe the conditions.

“She’s proven me wrong in so many ways,” Henderson said recently. “Victoria always meets with small-business owners and she is at every function. Victoria wants to make the city better. That’s the type of person we need as mayor.”

Seaman, 65, is in the middle of her first full four-year term as councilwoman for Ward 2, which covers much of the western and southwest areas of the city, including Summerlin. A former one-term Republican assemblywoman, she was first elected to the council in 2019 to finish the term of a councilman who resigned, and — in a nonpartisan race that has markedly partisan undertones — is now running as the underdog to a former Democratic congresswoman to become the first Las Vegas mayor in 25 years without the name Goodman.

“I spent time trying to understand everything about civic government,” she said as a reason why she’s running for mayor. “I believe we need someone who has institutional knowledge of city government to continue moving forward.”

She is now running to lead the city that she has twice sued. 

One case was settled; she recovered medical costs for a car accident in an unmarked section of a road construction zone. The second lawsuit — for injuries and mental anguish from a well-publicized altercation with former Councilwoman Michele Fiore — is still pending.

Seaman faces a formidable challenge in front-runner Shelley Berkley, who served 14 years as a Democratic congresswoman representing a district that included a large portion of the City of Las Vegas. Berkley, 73, finished ahead of Seaman in the 15-candidate primary by almost 7 percentage points. 

The 2024 election marks the first time since a 2019 legislative change that the nonpartisan mayor’s race is on the same ballot as the president and the U.S. Senate campaign, both highly partisan affairs. However, with Seaman’s Republican background and Berkley’s long-standing ties to the Democratic Party, the campaign has taken on a partisan demeanor.

The most recent voter registration numbers provided by the Clark County Election Department show a Democratic lean: the city of Las Vegas had about 133,000 registered Democrats, roughly 101,000 Republicans, and more than 165,000 registered as nonpartisans or with other parties.

The winner replaces term-limited Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who succeeded her husband, mob lawyer Oscar Goodman. He began the family’s hold on the office in 1999.

Neither of the Goodmans has announced an endorsement for either candidate.

“I think the Goodmans have done a great job and there's no doubt they have done many good things. But we’re in a different time,” Seaman told The Indy in an interview last month at her Summerlin home. 

She was critical of how Carolyn Goodman handled the long-running land-use dispute surrounding the defunct Badlands golf course that could cost taxpayers upward of $450 million to $650 million. 

“I don't think she [Goodman] did the right thing when it came to Badlands,” Seaman said.

Since before taking office, Seaman made the dispute a key issue, advocating for the city to settle the matter and end the fight with developers who planned to turn the golf course at Alta Drive off Rampart Boulevard into a housing development. In August, she was the only councilmember to vote against paying outside lawyers $500,000 to continue to advise the city on the matter.

Settling the Badlands matter is one campaign issue where Seaman and Berkley agree. However, they disagree on what steps to take to end the fight. Berkley lives in the Queensridge community, which is bisected by Badlands.

“I believe the city needs a strong leader. We don’t need the status quo,” Seaman said. “I’ve never stopped and asked, ‘Oh, how will this look?’ This is why I got elected. This is a job I want to do.”

Las Vegas City Councilman Brian Knudsen, who has endorsed Berkley, took umbrage with Seaman’s remarks on Badlands, saying all the council members have sought to resolve the matter, but said the developer has no interest in a settlement.

“We’ve all advocated to settle and [Seaman and I] have been on the council the same amount of time,” Knudsen told The Nevada Independent. “That’s why I put it on the public record.”

Former Republican Gov. Bob List, now an attorney and lobbyist, said he first met Seaman during her time in Carson City. List became an early backer after telling him she was entering the race. 

“We've stayed in touch over the years and I've watched her work on the city council,” said List, who was Nevada governor from 1979 to 1983. “I have a great deal of admiration for her. She loves the city and she loves her constituency, and she's just tireless.”

A California transplant change

Seaman was born in California and grew up in the Los Angeles area. On her campaign website, she mentions being a descendant of José Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega, a “Californio” (Hispanic Californian) who was a landowner, politician and military officer with ties to Santa Barbara.  

She moved to Las Vegas in 2005 and earned real estate and business broker licenses in Nevada. According to her LinkedIn page, Seaman previously owned several day spas and a line of bath, body and skin care products, businesses that have since been sold.

“I left LA because of the policies and I didn't believe that people in government understood small business and the challenges that we had to go through,” Seaman said, adding that she planned to back candidates “who signed the front of a paycheck and understood small business.”

In her 2015 legislative biography, Seaman said she earned an associate degree in political science at the College of Southern Nevada, and a bachelor’s degree in urban studies with a minor in family studies from UNLV.

Seaman said her outspokenness on Badlands and her efforts to resolve issues surrounding The Animal Foundation motivated her to enter the mayor’s race.

“We're a huge city now. We need someone who's not going to care about their next election and do the right thing,” Seaman said.

At a Nevada Independent mayoral candidate forum on Sept. 25, Seaman said her experiences in dealing with government, including taxes and over-regulation, is what drove her to get into politics and ultimately led her to run for mayor. 

“I've been on the council for five years. It's supposed to be a part-time position that I've done as a full-time job,” Seaman said. 

She added that local government differs greatly from the Legislature because the job brings her closer to her constituents. 

“You can actually get things done,” she said. 

Seaman cited the city’s rapid growth, homelessness, affordable housing and public safety as many of the issues she would tackle as mayor. Seaman stated during the mayoral forum that crime is on the rise in Southern Nevada even when shown news reports of declining numbers for burglaries and nonviolent crimes.

On housing, she committed to “ensuring that builders and developers will have the tools and incentives they need to significantly expand affordable housing opportunities within our community.” To address homelessness, Seaman worked with the governor's office to replicate Haven for Hope, a San Antonio, Texas-based transformational homeless campus, in Las Vegas.

One of her accomplishments since taking office is resolving issues with The Animal Foundation. Seaman led a surprise visit and inspection of the nonprofit facility in September 2022 following reports of poor conditions at Las Vegas’ primary animal shelter that is overseen by the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, as well as Clark County.

Seaman called the shelter “appalling,” adding it smelled of feces from the kennels in an intake area where animals were kept after being found overnight. Foundation officials said Seaman showed up before the shelter was open and that the power to inspect it does not belong to her. They said the shelter is routinely subjected to random checks by county and city inspectors, something they welcome. 

Animal Foundation CEO Hilarie Grey — who lost a 2019 city council election to Seaman — said at the time that the councilwoman’s visit was “nothing more than a political stunt, and not an indication of anything.”

In December 2023, the city council unanimously approved reforms to the facility.

“The Animal Foundation was a decades-old problem that nobody would touch,” said Seaman, who is pictured on her website with two of her four dogs. “I took the lead on that issue.”

A foundation spokesperson declined to comment about Seaman’s role in improving conditions at the animal shelter. 

Legal matters

In 2017, two years before Seaman was elected to the city council, she and her husband, John, sued the city and three contractors after they were injured in a one-car accident in 2015.  

The Seamans alleged serious injury after their 2014 Honda Accord, driven by John with Victoria in the passenger seat, drove into an improperly marked section of excavated road.

The case was settled in 2019 for $100,000 without the use of taxpayer money.

In January 2021, Seaman and Fiore were involved in a physical altercation that left her with a broken finger. Seaman filed a lawsuit in September 2022 seeking upward of $15,000, payment for medical expenses and “general damages for pain, suffering, mental distress, anguish and fear.”

According to the lawsuit, Fiore violently attacked Seaman, grabbing her hand and “​​pulling, jerking, twisting, and breaking … Seaman’s finger in a violent manner.” City Hall surveillance videos that captured the physical altercation were deleted, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in 2021.

“That a public servant could stoop to the level that she did to attack me was very humiliating,” Seaman said. “I didn't have support from the city and that was part of the reason to go forward with a lawsuit. I was in fear for my life.”

Fiore did not seek re-election to the city council in 2022 and ran a losing campaign for state treasurer. She was later appointed as a justice of the peace in Nye County.

However, on Oct. 3, Fiore was convicted by a jury on seven federal wire fraud charges for using donations intended for a fallen police officer’s statue for personal gain. Seaman, along with Gov. Joe Lombardo, were listed as donors defrauded by Fiore. Seaman did not testify in the trial and said she couldn’t discuss the case.

Embarking on a political career 

Seaman’s interest in politics began in 2012 through a friendship with Danny Tarkanian, who ran several close but unsuccessful House campaigns as a Republican and is now a Douglas County commissioner. Seaman said she was introduced to Tarkanian by an acquaintance.

“He was a small-business owner, and I went and volunteered for him,” Seaman said. “Eventually I got very involved in the political system and got recruited and ran for office.”

In the “red wave” of 2014, Seaman won a two-year term as a Republican to represent Southern Nevada’s Assembly District 34, which covers much of Summerlin. She won with 56.2 percent of the vote after her Democratic opponent was declared ineligible by a judge for not meeting the district’s residency requirements. The court ordered signs posted notifying voters that she was ineligible, but it was too late in the process to remove her name from the ballot.

During her only legislative session, Seaman sponsored several pieces of legislation, including two bills that were signed by the governor — the issuance of special license plates indicating support for Second Amendment rights and giving police the legal authority to remove squatters from occupying a dwelling without permission. Other bills she sponsored — including one to allow concealed weapons on college campuses and another to require voter ID — failed to become law.

Two years later, Seaman ran as a Republican for the open state Senate District 6 seat. She lost by 1,100 votes to Democrat Nicole Cannizzaro, who is now the Senate’s majority leader.

In 2018, Seaman was one of 10 GOP candidates running for the 3rd Congressional District when Tarkanian entered the race at the request of President Donald Trump. Seaman withdrew a week later.

“The Tarkanians have been family friends for years, and attacking one another will only hurt each other’s families, and lead to a blue win in November,” Seaman said at the time.

Seaman joined the city council in 2019 when she topped a field of eight candidates for the Ward 2 seat vacated by Steve Seroka, who resigned amid a recall campaign Seaman spearheaded about his handling of the Badlands issue. Seaman collected nearly 3,000 votes — 39.6 percent of the overall total in that race.

Three years later, Seaman won a full four-year term in a landslide.

In the mayor’s race, Berkley has been endorsed by four of the councilmembers — Knudsen, Olivia Díaz, Nancy Brune, and most recently, Cedric Crear, who finished third in the mayoral primary with almost 19 percent.

When asked about Berkley’s council endorsements, Seaman said it would “create a rubber stamp” should Berkley win.

“I don't think that's healthy. I think we have to debate,” Seaman said. “We don't get elected to get along. We get elected to do the people's work.”

Knudsen said his relationship with Seaman “has always been cordial,” but “it makes total sense to me why none of us have endorsed her.”

GOP support

According to Seaman’s campaign website, nearly two dozen past and present elected officials have endorsed her race for mayor, including Republicans Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony, state Controller Andy Matthews, former Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and former Attorney General Adam Laxalt.

Seaman also touts support from Lombardo, although the Republican governor isn’t included on the list. Lombardo was one of several hosts for a Seaman fundraiser in September at Red Rock Resort but did not attend. 

According to Seaman's April campaign filing report, Lombardo's Nevada Way PAC contributed $5,000 to her mayoral campaign on Feb. 1.

“While Gov. Lombardo doesn't typically endorse in non-partisan races, his contribution and fundraising support speaks for itself,” a spokesperson for the governor said in an email. 

List, one of the former GOP elected officials who have endorsed Seaman, said “Victoria brings some new thinking to city hall. She's been absolutely right on this Badlands issue. She’s also been very good on public safety.”

Seaman’s husband is a former government law enforcement officer who, following his retirement, helped her build the skin care products business. 

She touts her support from law enforcement, having been endorsed by more than a dozen Nevada police organizations, including the Las Vegas Police Protective Association (LVPPA), the union that represents some 4,000 active and retired members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Several of the other law enforcement groups don’t have ties to Las Vegas or Clark County. 

LVPPA President Steven Grammas said Seaman earned the group’s backing because her “policies on policing and thoughts on police officers has really aligned with us.” He added that Seaman “has always been an advocate for law enforcement, which she has shown through time by her votes.”

As of June 30, according to their campaign contribution and expense reports, Berkley had outraised Seaman by more than $100,000. Seaman reported about $412,000 in contributions while Berkley has brought in nearly $518,000. Berkley is using a majority of her funds for television advertising, having reserved $445,000 worth of airtime, according to data from AdImpact.

Seaman said she didn’t budget dollars for television advertising and was focusing on other campaign efforts. 

“In the general [election], with the presidential and Senate races, unless you have a million dollars, you might as well set [your money] on fire,” she said.

Seaman’s husband of 20 years has knocked on more than 12,000 doors since the campaign began. She said her daughter, who lives part-time in France, came back to Las Vegas in early October to help with the grassroots effort.

Would remain on the council

While settling the Badlands dispute tops her goals, Seaman said she was hopeful the developer would come up with a plan that would satisfy all the stakeholders, including nearby residents. 

“The land is worth a lot of money, and there are developers that are very interested in it,” Seaman said. “Sadly, we're here, but we have to now move forward and find a way to make sure that the taxpayers aren't on the hook.”

Seaman said another of her goals is to bring a standalone children’s hospital to Las Vegas. 

If Seaman loses to Berkley, she said she will continue to serve as the Ward 2 councilwoman until 2026. She said nothing would change in how she handles her position.

“I'll just continue representing the people and leading in my capacity because that's what I was elected to do,” Seaman said. “That's what I'm passionate about and I think the constituents deserve that.”

Updated at 3:12 p.m. on 10/16/2024 to reflect a campaign contribution from Gov. Joe Lombardo's political action committee.

Updated at 9:42 a.m. on 10/13/2024 to correct Seaman's age, educational background and the status of a homeless center.