(April Corbin Girnus) – Outgoing Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones has funneled thousands of dollars through various political action committees in support of his chosen successor.
Jones, who is not seeking re-election, has endorsed Minddie Lloyd, the co-founder of the local anti-trafficking nonprofit Bamboo Bridges and widow of a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer who in 2020 died of covid-19.
Lloyd, who has previously run for state Assembly and Clark County clerk as a Republican, reported raising $117,591 in the first quarter of this year and $100,195 last year. She has $53,303 on hand as of April 1, according to her most recent campaign contributions and expenses report (commonly called a C&E).
Around $30,000 can be directly traced back to Jones. The Nevada Current determined that amount using campaign finance reports filed with the state.
In addition to those contributions, Jones funneled $125,000 to an independent PAC that is now actively sending mailers to voters in District F. That financial relationship was not publicly traceable until the Current inquired about C&E reports that had not been filed by Jones and the independent PAC on time.
Those monetary contributions could be the difference for Lloyd, who is competing in the District F Democratic primary against six other candidates. Lloyd’s best funded opponent is Lenna Hovanessian, a community advocate who has worked on state and federal legislation related to genocide education and war crimes.
Hovanessian raised $46,480 in the first quarter of this year and $131,990 last year, according to her campaign finance reports. She reported having $127,664 on hand as of April 1. Hovanessian also has an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Dina Titus.
Jones has represented District F, which encompasses the southwest part of the Las Vegas Valley, since 2018. He narrowly retained his seat in 2022, defeating Republican Drew Johnson by less than 350 votes.
Jones has been embroiled in controversy for his role in a decadelong dispute over a planned housing development near Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. A Clark County District Court in 2024 found Jones willfully destroyed evidence related to the dispute. Clark County settled with the developer for $80 million.
In September, Jones publicly announced he would not run for re-election, saying in a social media post that it was time for him “to hand off that baton.” By then, he had already contributed $1,000 to Lloyd’s campaign, according to her C&E report. He would later attend her campaign kickoff and endorse her.
Moving money
Earlier this month, Citizens for Honorable Government PAC began mailing flyers in support of Lloyd to voters in District F. At least three have gone out so far.
Paperwork filed with the state indicates the PAC, which was formed in January, is headed by Katie Robbins, a partner at Hilltop Public Solutions. Hilltop is an influential national political consulting firm whose Nevada office is headed by Robbins and Megan Jones, a veteran of the Reid machine and the wife of Justin Jones.
As of early Thursday, Citizens for Honorable Government had not filed its quarter one C&E report with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office. That report, which was due April 15, discloses donations and spending made between Jan. 1 and March 31.
The Current asked Robbins via email why the PAC had not filed a C&E report. Robbins did respond, but within hours the PAC filed the report, which discloses the PAC received $125,000 from one contributor: Justin Jones’s Renegades PAC.
Renegades PAC had also not filed its C&E report by the April 15 deadline. The report was filed with the state midday Thursday, after the Current asked the commissioner about it and another PAC via text message.
“Thanks for bringing to my attention,” Jones responded. “Q1 PAC reports have been filed.”
The commissioner offered no further explanation.
Both PACs failing to file reports by the mandatory deadline means no record of the $125,000 transfer was publicly available for anyone who wanted to follow the money and see who was financially backing Lloyd.
The Current asked Jones to comment on the appearance that he or the PACs might have been attempting to hide the information from the public. He did not respond.
Donations and spending occurring between April 1 and June 30 do not need to be reported until July 15, well after Nevada’s June 9 primary has concluded.
A second Justin Jones PAC, Southern Nevada Stronger, had also failed to file a quarter 1 C&E report as of early Thursday. That report was also filed only after the Current inquired about it.
That late-filed report showed the PAC gave $10,000 to Democratic Assemblymember Duy Nguyen’s You Win PAC on March 21. (You Win PAC reported receiving that money on its C&E reports, which were filed with the state on time.)
You Win PAC contributed $2,500 to Lloyd’s campaign on March 31. The PAC also previously gave $2,500 to Lloyd in September, months before it received the contribution from Jones’s PAC.
Both Justin Jones PACs gave money directly to Lloyd’s campaign last year.
On Dec. 19, Jones gave $25,000 to Renegades PAC and $25,000 to Southern Nevada Stronger PAC. Three days later, both PACs gave $10,000 to Lloyd. That same day, Jones gave $8,000 to Lloyd on top of the $1,000 he’d given in August.
Those transactions were documented in C&E reports filed by the PACs in mid-January. Lloyd was the only candidate the PACs contributed money to.
That puts the amount of money funnelled by Jones to Lloyd’s campaign at around $30,000.
Nevada law sets donor contribution limits to political candidates at $10,000 per cycle — $5,000 for the primary, $5,000 for the general.
Corporations easily — and legally — bypass these limits by having their numerous LLCs each donate the $10,000 max, or by donating to PACs, which have no contribution limits. Many high-profile races, like those for governor, rely heavily on these maneuvers.
The movement of money between the county commissioner’s campaign funds and his PACs could fall under the same type of legal loophole.
Experts see these types of campaign finance moves as skirting the spirit of contribution limits, and as a transparency issue. But they are also increasingly commonplace.
“Functionally, at the federal and state level, there isn’t much left in terms of campaign contribution limits,” said UNLV political science professor Kenneth Miller, speaking generally about the issue. “It’s so easy to move money around at this point. Any existing laws on the books are little more than unenforced speed limit laws.”
The Current asked Jones via text to comment on the perception that he may be skirting campaign contribution laws but did not receive a response by time of publication.
The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office assesses late fees on PACs that fail to file mandatory C&E reports: $25 per day for the first seven days and $50 per day for days eight through 15th. After the 15th day, the fee is $100 per day, up to a maximum of $10,000 per violation.
According to the SOS, Citizens for Honorable Government, Southern Nevada Stronger, and Renegades PACs each have a current late fee balance due of $225.
Others in the District F race
Trailing behind Lloyd and Hovanessian in fundraising numbers is Minja Yan, a commercial real estate professional who raised $40,310 in the first quarter of the year. Yan is refusing donations from corporations and corporate PACs, according to her website. She has the endorsement of PLAN Action and the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter.
Four other Democrats filed to run for the office and will appear on the primary ballot. Serena Kumar, Michael Robert Wall and Justin D. Lieberknecht have raised less than $1,000 combined. The fourth, Sebastian Crawford, has not filed any campaign finance reports with the state.
The winner of the District F Democratic primary in June will advance to the November general election. There, they will face the winner of the Republican primary, which has shaped into a messy battle between Assemblymember Heidi Kasama and private equity firm CEO Albert Mack, and two nonpartisan candidates, most notably Becky Harris, a former Republican state senator and former chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was originally published via NevadaCurrent.com on 4/24/2026.
