Michele Fiore joins GOP field for Nevada governor

Image

Steve Marcus

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore attends a Sept. 11 remembrance event at Police Memorial Park Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. The Las Vegas Ten-13 Club sponsored the event.

Published Tue, Oct 19, 2021 (9:58 a.m.)

Updated Tue, Oct 19, 2021 (3:35 p.m.)

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore announced today that she will seek the Republican nomination for governor.

“This campaign will be a fight everyday starting today,” said Fiore, who joins a field of seven other Republicans looking to unseat Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak. “I’m not going to stop fighting. I’m not going to stop fighting for the people.”

Other Republicans who have announced primary bids include Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller and North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee.

Fiore, who made the announcement in front of dozens of supporters at the Italian-American Club in Las Vegas, said she would fight against vaccine mandates and for police. She also vowed to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools and to audit the 2020 election results.

"I fight for our students who get a mask taped on their face,” Fiore said. “I fight for our teachers, who are being strangled by their unions. And I fight for our small businesses, who so many went bankrupt and then shut down and are still struggling today."

A campaign video released today shows Fiore walking through the desert in a red dress with a handgun strapped to her waist that she later unholsters to fire at bottles labeled “vaccine mandates,” “critical race theory,” and “voter fraud.”

“I’ve spent my whole life fighting the establishment,” she says, standing in front of a pickup truck adorned with a Trump 2024 bumper sticker. “We need outsiders, fighters, not the same old boring, moderate, compromise blue-blazer politicians.”

Fiore was elected to the City Council in 2017 but stepped down as mayor pro tem last year after the Clark County Republican Party accused her of making “racially charged” comments at a party convention.

Fiore didn’t admit any wrongdoing but said discussion surrounding her reported comments were bad for the council and influenced her decision to step down from the leadership post. She remains on the council, representing Ward 6.

Fiore's ties to rancher Cliven Bundy and his family put her in a media spotlight during armed standoffs between self-described citizen militia members and federal law enforcement in Bunkerville in 2014 and Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.

Fiore, a New York City native, served in Nevada's state Assembly from 2012 to 2016, during which she opposed tax increases, supported gun rights and spearheaded a controversial proposal that would have dramatically curbed federal power to manage public lands and waters in Nevada.

She gained additional attention during a 2016 run for Congress for sending a Christmas card showing her and her family armed with handguns and semi-automatic pistols.

Fiore said she moved to Nevada in the 1990s "because I believed in the West anything was possible if you work hard and have courage. But if we lose it now, we will lose Nevada and what we knew of Nevada and how we grew up here and what we came here for."

Fiore said she planned to approach this campaign similar to her previous political battles and wouldn’t work with Democrats if it meant compromising her positions. "That isn’t me. You’ll never hear me do that. If you want that, then vote for one of my primary opponents,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Back to top

SHARE