Henderson Mayor Runoff: Romero's 49.8 Percent Was Not Enough — Now She Faces the Police Chief She Removed
Henderson decides its mayor on Tuesday in a two-name runoff. Incumbent Michelle Romero led June's primary with 49.8 percent, two-tenths of a point short of winning outright. Her opponent is Hollie Chadwick, the city's former police chief, who took 23 percent in June and was fired from the chief's job in 2025.
Henderson's mayoral race is the rare runoff with a personal edge. Mayor Michelle Romero led the June 9 primary with 29,040 votes — 49.8 percent — but Nevada municipal law requires a majority to win outright, and the certified results, approved June 19, sent the top two finishers to Tuesday's general election. The second name on the ballot is Hollie Chadwick, the former Henderson police chief, who took 13,432 votes and 23 percent in June, ahead of Adam Price's 21.4 percent. The City of Henderson's official candidate list confirms exactly two names for mayor, a four-year term, with voting Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The race is framed as continuity against change. Romero, the incumbent, defends a record built on Henderson's growth and carries the endorsement of Gov. Joe Lombardo, according to City Cast Las Vegas's mayoral guide. Chadwick, a 22-year law-enforcement veteran who served as police chief from 2023 to 2025, runs as the change candidate — she was fired as chief in 2025 after the city manager said she had lost confidence in her leadership, and her campaign criticizes City Hall's workplace culture, turnover and transparency, according to the guide. The Associated Press has the Henderson mayor's race on its list of contests it will call on election night.
The issues waiting for the winner are the valley's growth problems in miniature. City Cast's guide puts Henderson roughly 6,000 attainable homes short, with pressure on city revenues and residents frustrated by the road construction and traffic congestion that come with new development. Tuesday's winner takes a four-year term in the city that has been one of the fastest-growing in Clark County — and takes it with a mandate shaped by how close June was: Romero needs the voters who nearly settled this in the primary, and Chadwick needs almost all of everyone else's.
