Incumbent County Commissioner Mike Clark Faces Challengers to Keep Seat with Initial June Primary Hurdle
In the battle for County Commission 2, a district which covers plenty of south Reno into Washoe Valley, incumbent Mike Clark is facing a primary Republican challenger in Jon Killoran who describes himself on his website as a “nonprofit leader” and “nonprofit CEO.”
One grab and go press release feature from last year on his website from KRNV mentions he was previously that station’s news director, for over seven years until the end of 2008.
Many of the media releases also mention he’s the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition CEO. Tax forms for that non profit indicate he’s been compensated over $47K in recent years for that role or over 20% of the organization’s total expenses in 2024, which also included $102K in event participant fees, $6K in accounting, $10K in staff costs, $7K in general event costs, $4K in event transportation and $10K in other expenses.
The nonprofit’s website has its most recent post in 2018. The last time it made local news cycles was also that year when it said Reno-Tahoe was out of the running to host the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.
Its tagline still says Help Bring the Winter Games to Reno Tahoe.
“We have always spoken of the value of the process,” Killoran said in a press release in 2018. “Over the past decade the pursuit of our Olympic and Paralympic Games dream opened the door to host World Championships, World Congresses of Sport, World Cup events and other elite competitions, which would not have been possible without the tireless work of our board, staff, donors and stakeholders to raise the world-wide awareness of the Reno-Tahoe, Las Vegas and Nevada brands.”
Even as his CEO compensation has still been coming in in recent years, the organization’s social media seems dormant, with its last tweet in 2020. Its last Facebook post was a brief return in 2024 saying “I do not authorize META, Facebook or any entity associated with Facebook to use my photos, information, messages or posts, past or future,” after an apparent seven year hiatus on that platform. Its last YouTube video was 14 years ago.
Mike Clark, meanwhile, is known as a fiscal responsibility commissioner who has sought more transparency on how the county has been operating the costly Cares Campus, and other programs, while voting against massive development projects such as Sierra Reflections, and regularly bemoaning the poor quality of food being served at the county’s senior center on social media.
“Clean air. Open space. The kind of landscape you can’t replace once it’s gone. Now here’s what matters: When the Sierra Reflections project came in front of the Washoe County Commission… Mike Clark voted NO. Not later. Not after “more study.” At the moment it counted,” Clark wrote on one of his recent Facebook posts with photos of beautiful local scenery.
“Every day I’m out talking with voters across District 2, and what I hear is clear — people want a commissioner who will listen, show up, and fight for this community. That’s exactly what I intend to do,” Killoran wrote in his own press release from March.
In the latest fundraising numbers, Clark reported $6.5K in donations for the first three months of 2026, while spending $5.8K, with most of the incoming money from Judith Coulter with $5K and another $1K from the Northern Nevada Confederation of Clubs.
Killoran raised over $14K, while spending $24K in the first three months of 2026. Besides his own $2.3K contribution, and $1.5K from Kim Bacchus, other top contributors at $1K each included Ben Farahi, Joey Scolari, Jerry Scolari, Savage and Son and Robert Winkel.
Killoran’s spending went $3K to Aaron Park out of Oregon, over $6K to November Inc out of Las Vegas, over $3.5K to Majority Strategies out of Dallas, and over $4.3K to PDQ Gill’s Printing out of Las Vegas.
On the Democratic primary side, an administrator pushing for smart growth Susan Broili Kamesch is facing off against Marie Rodriguez, who has been a community services officer for Reno PD and on the Library Board. The winner of that contest will face off against the winner of the Republican primary come November.
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