Jennifer Schwartz and Jacob Villani are set to meet in the November 3 election for Department 17 of the Eighth Judicial District Court. Because only two candidates filed, the scheduled June primary was canceled and both advanced to the general-election ballot, according to Ballotpedia.
Different paths to the bench
Villani, a Clark County deputy district attorney, is seeking a judicial seat for the second time. He lost the 2020 Department 1 race to Bita Yeager by double digits; Nevada Current reported that the Las Vegas Police Protective Association PAC endorsed him in that contest. His Our Nevada Judges profile says he has more than a decade of prosecutorial experience, including three years in the Special Victims Unit, and has taken more than 30 felony cases through jury trial to verdict. The Clark County Prosecutors Association has endorsed his current campaign.
Schwartz took office in Department 17 on January 2, 2023, after winning a special election in November 2022, according to Ballotpedia. Nevada Current reported that she grew up in Las Vegas, graduated from UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, clerked for Judge Michael Cherry and worked as a public defender before becoming a judge.
Fundraising and evaluation
Campaign finance figures reported by Nevada Current showed a substantial difference as of July: Schwartz had raised about $274,000 and had roughly $210,000 remaining, while Villani had reported no contributions. The outlet also reported that Villani had no campaign website at the time, did not respond to its interview requests and had no known endorsements.
In the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 2025 Judging the Judges evaluation, 177 attorneys responded about Schwartz; 75.5 percent supported retaining her, Nevada Current reported. Separately, Our Nevada Judges records errors in seven of 36 appealed criminal rulings and says all three appealed civil rulings were upheld.
Districtwide workload context
The Eighth Judicial District Court’s August 2024 workload update said applying its standards to fiscal year 2023 filings indicated a districtwide need for 88.85 full-time-equivalent judicial officers, or 17.85 additional officers, according to the Eighth Judicial District Court. The estimate is not specific to Department 17 and does not, by itself, show how caseloads changed year to year.
Dispute over an endorsement-related expense
Nevada Current reported that Schwartz’s campaign expense report listed a $600 payment to Veterans in Politics International for consulting. The group’s founder, Steve Sanson, disputed that description, telling the outlet the payment was for advertising and that buying advertising did not guarantee an endorsement. The outlet reported that Schwartz did not respond to its request for comment on the discrepancy.
