Clark County District Judge Jerry Wiese has held Department 30 since 2010, cruising through a 2014 reelection and running unopposed in 2020. This November, for the first time in over a decade, he has a real fight on his hands against Josh Santeramo, a state attorney who has criticized Wiese's appellate track record.
An Incumbent With Deep Pockets Faces a Long-Shot Challenger
Wiese, who has served as a judge for 16 years, told Nevada Current he is simply trying to keep his job, pointing to his experience, fairness, and integrity as reasons voters should grant him a fourth term. He said he comes to court prepared and is fairly respected, adding that even litigants who lose their cases before him tend to feel they got a fair hearing. Because only Wiese and Santeramo filed for Department 30, Nevada's nonpartisan election rules canceled the June primary and sent both men straight to the November 3 general election.
The financial gap between the two campaigns is stark. Wiese reported roughly $363,000 in campaign contributions as of July, with about $324,000 still on hand, according to the same report. Santeramo, by contrast, had raised just $8,500 during that period, leaving him with $5,600 on hand. Wiese has picked up labor and political endorsements including the Women's Democratic Club, Veterans in Politics, IATSE, and the Southern Nevada Labor Council, while Santeramo has lined up his own list of backers, among them Culinary Local 226, the Bartenders Union, SEIU Nevada, Plan Action, the Clark County Deputy Marshals Association, and Nevada Now PAC.
Santeramo Targets Wiese's Appeal Numbers
Santeramo has built his campaign around Wiese's record on appeal, telling Nevada Current that the judge's error rate is among the worst on the bench. Data cited by Our Nevada Judges shows Wiese was reversed five times in 70 criminal appeals and 65 times in 156 civil appeals. Santeramo argues that record, paired with a need for more diverse voices on the bench, makes the case for new leadership in Department 30.
Santeramo grew up in San Francisco, attended the University of California, Davis, and earned his law degree at UNLV's Boyd School of Law, according to Ballotpedia. He has practiced law for 15 years and is licensed in both Nevada and California. After leaving private practice, he went to work for Nevada Attorneys for Injured Workers, a state agency that represents workers whose benefits claims were denied. He told Nevada Current that being the underdog is a familiar role, and that he believes he could serve two or three terms and grow into a good judge, arguing voters want judges who review cases carefully and treat litigants with respect and dignity, and that more people from diverse backgrounds should seek judicial office.
Wiese Defends His Record and His Docket
Wiese pushed back on the criticism by pointing to an 83 percent retention rating from participating attorneys in the 2025 Judging the Judges survey conducted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He currently handles a civil docket and spent about five years earlier in his tenure handling criminal cases, and he argues that judicial assignments should not be dictated by any one judge's particular skill set — a judge, he said, should be able to handle nearly anything that comes before the court.
Wiese just finished a four-year run as the Eighth Judicial District Court's Chief Judge, an administrative post he held after being elected by his fellow judges to two consecutive two-year terms. He stepped down from that role on July 1, when Judge Tierra Jones was selected by unanimous vote of the bench to succeed him, according to the Eighth Judicial District Court, which cited term limits on the position rather than any dispute over his performance.
A Backlogged Court System Looms Over the Race
The Clark County court system Wiese has helped run for four years is straining under its own caseload. The court's 32 departments have been outgrown by civil and criminal caseloads, and last year Wiese asked the Legislature to fund 18 new judicial seats, while a subsequent study determined the county actually needs 14 new departments. As chief judge, Wiese also urged Clark County commissioners to build a new courthouse, prompting county leaders to debate the costs and delays of such a project, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last year.
Wiese's administrative tenure wasn't limited to budget fights. In May 2025, he exercised his authority as chief judge to reassign District Judge Erika Ballou's criminal cases. He also signed an agreement in January establishing a joint initiative between the court's specialty courts and the College of Southern Nevada to offer vocational training and GED programs to court-involved young adults.
What's at Stake for Department 30 Voters
Nevada District Court judges serve six-year terms in nonpartisan elections and hold broad jurisdiction over major civil disputes, felony trials, and appeals from lower courts, under Article 6 of the Nevada Constitution. Department 30 is one of dozens of contests on this year's ballot; statewide, voters are deciding roughly 31 percent of Nevada's district court bench this cycle. Clark County's elections span 32 civil and criminal departments and 26 family and juvenile court departments — a scope Hoodline has also covered in the Department 21 race and the wider look at 2026 bench turnover.
With no primary to sort out the field, Department 30 comes down to a single choice for Clark County voters on November 3: a well-funded, long-tenured judge defending his record, against a challenger with a fraction of the campaign cash but a pointed argument about accountability on the bench.
