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Endorses Taylor
The race
Reno elects a mayor on November 3, 2026, for an open seat: three-term Mayor Hillary Schieve is term-limited. In the June 9 nonpartisan primary's nine-candidate field, former Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall took 17,339 votes (43.72% in the Washoe County summary report; roughly 45% in later reporting) and Vice Mayor Kathleen Taylor took 7,873 (19.85%), edging businessman Eddie Lorton (18.76%). The Reno mayor holds one of seven equal council votes and serves as the city's public face; the city manager runs day-to-day operations. Marshall is a Democrat; Taylor is a Republican. Neither party appears on the ballot.
Kate Marshall — Former lieutenant governor. Marshall's résumé is the deepest in the race: two terms as Nevada state treasurer, lieutenant governor (2019-2021), and then a resignation to join the Biden White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, working with Western governors. She campaigns on that government-and-policy experience and bipartisan work with governors, and her stated fiscal priority is addressing Reno's roughly $26 million budget shortfall through transparency and audits. Her endorsements include EMILY's List, the Democratic Mayors Association, Latino Victory, former U.S. Attorney Jason Frierson, Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley, Representatives Susie Lee and Dina Titus, and building-trades unions. Her dirt column is a matter of direction rather than scandal — none was retrieved: she is the candidate of the national Democratic institutional program, imported into a nonpartisan city race, with a career spent in partisan state and federal offices rather than in Reno's government; the city she asks to lead is the one level she has not served. In the September debate she clashed with Taylor over data centers, homelessness, and the budget — the same three issues every Reno voter guide ranks first.
Kathleen Taylor — Vice mayor. Taylor sits on the Reno City Council from Ward 1 and serves as vice mayor (since 2024); before the council she chaired the planning commission and the Reno Housing Authority — 11 years, in her telling, in nonpartisan local roles. She runs "back-to-basics": local record over state-and-federal résumé, and she agrees with Marshall on one diagnostic — "City Hall is dysfunctional." Her donor base is construction, real estate, and gaming, and her campaign has been the race's spending story: per the October 15 finance reports covered by the Reno Gazette Journal, Taylor raised about $793,000 and spent over $808,000 in 2026 against Marshall's roughly $460,000 raised and $417,000 spent — Taylor far ahead in money while far behind in primary votes (about 9,548 to 22,562 in the primary-period count the Gazette Journal cites). Her dirt column: an endorsement video from far-right attorney Joey Gilbert — who has said he did not believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020 — which Our Town Reno flagged and opponents amplify; we print the endorsement as a fact about her coalition, not as her own statement, and we do not price another man's words as her position. No ethics or misconduct file against Taylor was retrieved, and her council record is the record voters can most directly inspect for this exact job.
Pros and cons
Marshall: Pros: Treasurer and lieutenant governor — genuine fiscal-office experience aimed at a stated $26 million shortfall with an audit-first plan; establishment endorsements across Nevada's Democratic officeholders. Cons: A career partisan from state and federal office seeking a nonpartisan city job she has never held at the city level; backed by the national Democratic program (EMILY's List, Democratic Mayors Association) in a race designed to be local. Taylor: Pros: Republican; eleven years in Reno's own institutions — council, vice mayor, planning commission, housing authority; back-to-basics message; agrees City Hall is dysfunctional and has sat inside it to know where. Cons: Outspending her opponent nearly two-to-one while trailing badly in primary votes — money is not converting; the Joey Gilbert endorsement video attaches a divisive figure to her campaign; as a sitting councilmember she co-owns the City Hall record she attacks.
Record gaps
- Neither candidate's detailed data-center position (moratorium, conditions, or incentives) was retrieved beyond the debate clash noted above; the issue is live and voters should consult the Gazette Journal's Q&A in the sources.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse Kathleen Taylor. Reno's mayor is one vote of seven and the face of the city — a local job. Taylor has done the local jobs, in order: planning commission, housing authority, council, vice mayor. Marshall is a capable state official whose candidacy asks Reno to import the national Democratic program into a nonpartisan office; her audit plan for the shortfall is good, and it is also the one part of her platform a strong councilmember-turned-mayor can simply adopt. Taylor's spending imbalance and the Gilbert video are priced above; neither outweighs eleven years of Reno-specific service for a Reno-specific office.
Vote Taylor.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — - Washoe County — 2026 Primary Election Summary Report (official; Marshall 17,339 / 43.72%, Taylor 7,873 / 19.85%, Lorton 7,442 / 18.76%) — https://www.washoecounty.gov/voters/results/datafiles/WASHOE2026PRIMARYSummary06.pdf - Wikipedia — 2026 Reno mayoral election (candidates, Marshall's endorsements, Schieve term-limited) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Reno_mayoral_election - Reno Gazette Journal — "Q&A with Reno mayor candidates Kate Marshall, Kathleen Taylor" (Oct. 5, 2026; roles of the office, party affiliations, fiscal-discipline pledges) — https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/10/05/2026-election-reno-mayor-candidates-kate-marshall-kathleen-taylor-general-midterm-election/92046894007/ - Reno Gazette Journal — "Reno mayor candidates Marshall, Taylor spar over data centers, budget" (Sept. 22, 2026 debate) — https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/09/22/reno-mayor-candidates-marshall-taylor-debate/91891358007/ - Reno Gazette Journal — "Reno's mayor candidates spend 3.5 times more than last election" (Oct. 20, 2026; finance totals) — https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/10/20/marshall-taylor-reno-mayor-campaign-finance/92351771007/ - Our Town Reno — "Reno Mayoral Candidates Have Spent over $1.2 million on their race in 2026" (Oct. 16, 2026; primary vote counts, Gilbert endorsement video) — http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2026/10/16/reno-mayoral-candidates-have-spent-over-12-million-on-their-race-in-2026
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.