Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Top Nevada Democrat says he won't introduce open primary bill despite advocate push


Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager
Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager
Facebook Share IconTwitter Share IconEmail Share Icon

The top Democrat in Nevada's Assembly confirmed to News 4-Fox 11 on Tuesday that leadership will not be introducing a bill to create open primaries in Nevada, despite the ongoing push from advocates.

In a statement, Speaker Steve Yeager said it comes after Nevada voters 'soundly' rejected Question 3. The measure, despite passing in 2022 by 6 points, failed by roughly 6 points in the 2024 election.

"Nevada voters soundly rejected the concepts of Question 3. At this time, we are not looking to introduce legislation in the 2025 session on this issue," Yeager said.

His comments come after he appeared to support the concept of open primaries in an exchange on X last month.

If passed, Question 3 would've added both open primaries and ranked choice voting into the Nevada Constitution.

It failed even as many Nevada voters who were skeptical of ranked choice voting were open to or outwardly supportive of open primaries. Even the representatives arguing against Question 3 in our televised debate were not opposed to open primaries alone.

Following the election, proponents promised to keep fighting to pass open primaries, the more popular aspect of the measure, and called on legislative leaders to introduce an open primary bill in the 2025 legislative session.

"The bill's already there. It just needs to be resubmitted into the 2025 session, given hearings, passed and signed by the governor," said Sondra Cosgrove, open primaries advocate and College of Southern Nevada history professor, referring to Senate Bill 121 from the 2021 legislature.

If legislative leadership does not want to do that, then I want them to explain why. I want them to explain why they are opposed to open primaries.

Just like Question 3, Senate Bill 121 would convert every partisan race in Nevada to an open primary. All candidates regardless of party affiliation would be on one long primary ballot, in which voters would select one.

Unlike Question 3, when the top five vote-getters would advance to a ranked choice general election, the top two vote-getters in this open primary would advance to a standard general election featuring the two candidates.

Cosgrove and others have supported open primaries as a way to give more voice to the 34% of the electorate currently registered as nonpartisans and therefore unable to participate in closed primaries.

The 2025 Nevada legislature will begin on Monday, Feb. 3.

Email reporter Ben Margiott at bjmargiott@sbgtv.com. Follow @BenMargiott on X and Ben Margiott KRNV on Facebook.

Loading ...