In the race for Las Vegas mayor, a recent poll showed 16% of voters support former Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, 12% support Republican City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, and 7% support City Councilman Cedric Crear.

At the Fontainebleau was where these three front runners took part in a debate that Jon Ralston, CEO of The Nevada Independent, moderated.

And here now to evaluate how each candidate performed are Sondra Cosgrove, College of Southern Nevada History Professor and Executive Director of Vote Nevada; and Warren Hardy, former Republican State Senator and Principal Consultant for his firm, Warren Hardy Strategies.

Thank you both for making the time.

You both watched there on Wednesday night, and tell me, Sondra, who performed the best in your opinion and why.

(Sondra Cosgrove) So I think Councilman Crear did the best at using the time that he was allocated to talk about things that he's done and things that he would like to do.

He was able to get into the weeds a little and do some detail before he got cut off, because that was kind of the format.

But I actually think he performed the best.

-What about you?

(Warren Hardy) I would agree.

I would start by saying I don't think anybody hurt themselves.

And that's, from a candidate perspective, that's what you want.

Debates are not fun, because, really, the only thing you can do is end your candidacy with that.

I think Councilman Crear did the best job of using the time that was available to talk about what he's done in his district.

He was very organized with that.

You can tell he had thought that through and really sort of pushed through some of Jon's stop signs to be able to get those points out.

-When we talk about getting in the weeds on issues, what issues are there that mayors really can have an impact on?

So let's say that he is elected, will he have that kind of same impact?

-I think, especially for him, because he's coming out of Ward 5.

And that's where you got the concentration of homelessness, people who are mentally ill, problems with being able to provide them wraparound services.

And that is a very local issue that you can have an impact on.

I think that's one of the reasons I think he came across as being more organized is because that is an issue related to economic development and education.

And so he was able to zero in on it.

And I think he could have an impact.

-What do you think people should know about the power of a mayor?

-Well, I mean, it depends on the city, obviously.

But in this case, the city of Las Vegas, it is somewhat of a, you know-- what's the word I'm looking for-- ceremonial position.

But a good mayor, and I think we saw this with Mayor Lee in North Las Vegas, and a good mayor can set the vision for the city.

And a good mayor can then count votes, can bring his or her colleagues along, and work towards a collective goal of the city.

And so really, when I look at a mayor, who will make an effective mayor, I look at a person that will have the ability to coalesce people behind them, because they don't have the same sort of touch or influence that they do in a district and the vote.

So their job is to be really good at organizing people.

That's what you ought to look at.

And I think, frankly, that you've got three candidates that are probably pretty good at that.

-When we talk about-- well, off camera, we had talked about bully pulpit role and its importance.

How crucial is that?

And did this debate answer who would be the best in that regard?

-I mean, again, I don't-- I actually think the debate format might have outlived its usefulness, because being adversarial against each other doesn't really tell me what you would look like as a leader.

And so I think just based on what we heard, any one of them, especially in a state where you have every other legislative session, then there's kind of a vacuum of leadership voices there, could step into a crisis, could step into some type of-- like Warren said, they were going to get around some type of initiative.

I think either any of them could have done that.

-Okay.

And do you agree about the format?

And to be fair, this was labeled as a forum, not a debate.

-I think that's the, to Sondra's point, they're sort of moving away from the "debate" debate.

Yeah, because I think, you know, Cedric's performance was sort of illustrative of this that the focus is you get your talking points, you go-- regardless of what's going on around you, regardless what the discussion is, you get those talking points out.

That's not really useful.

But the bully pulpit is the tool.

And I think that's where Mayor Goodmans have been successful, particularly Oscar, enabled to use that bully pulpit to set a general vision, and people, because of his popularity, were a little afraid not to coalesce behind him.

That same thing happened with Mayor Lee.

And that's where an effective mayor can make a big difference.

So when I say it's ceremonial, in terms of structure and logistically, it's ceremonial.

In terms of potential influence, with the right person, the influence can be significant.

-We've talked about in what area Cedric Crear did well.

Let's talk about one of the other candidates.

Victoria Seaman, where do you think that she came off strongly?

-One of the things I've heard Victoria bring up is the children's hospital and Cashman Field and the Grant Sawyer building.

And I think that's where, if you asked her for a plan that she's thought out, it's that one.

And so I would like to know-- I'm going to probably talk to her more about that, How far are you?

What would it take?

But I think from her, it was that idea about having a children's hospital for that medical district.

-Which we've had doctors on this very show talking about how necessary that is for Southern Nevada.

-And to her credit, she has been talking about it for a long time.

You can't have a conversation with her when she doesn't bring it up.

She's focused on something that's exceptionally critically important.

I think in terms of her debate performance, she did a really good job of staying disciplined and staying focused, because I thought to the extent anybody was attacked by the moderator, it was probably her.

And she stayed disciplined.

She stayed focused.

She, I think she-- I think she did a good job.

And I agree with Sondra that that issue is the one that can sort of bring her through.

-And the attack on her by Jon Ralston involved some of her campaign materials.

I forget the exact wording, but procriminal, these procriminal-- -Syndicate or something.

-That there are people out there in power that are procriminals, something to that effect.

You don't think that was fair.

-Well, I don't know if it's not fair.

I mean, I think before I call it a cheap shot-- It's fair game because it was in her campaign literature.

But who doesn't-- you know, who isn't hyperbolic in their campaign literature?

You're trying to grab the attention of the folks.

And she's not wrong.

She might have been wrong about calling it a wasteland and procriminal.

She's not wrong.

We've got a challenge there.

We got something there.

And she's known to sort of, you know, talk about things in very dramatic ways.

So it was very interesting to me, especially that Shelley Berkley sort of went down the line and agreed with her across the board.

The only thing she didn't agree on is that she should call it a wasteland.

So it's a problem.

It's a challenge.

I think we've got a sheriff that's really doing a good job at this, but it's still a problem that has to be addressed by the council.

-Well, and you've got, you know, she probably would be considered the more conservative or Republican candidate; where as, Shelley Berkley and Cedric Crear would be more left, maybe more Democratic.

Victoria could pull this off if she can coalesce a lot of the independent vote and the Republican vote.

So I think that's where she was aiming for.

Again, probably went a little overboard in the language.

-Yeah.

That's clearly her ticket to the general.

-When you're talking about this problem, this wasteland, am I correct in interpreting the argument she was making is that homelessness, we may become the next LA, for example?

She was also talking about property crime.

-I think she was talking about crime, in general, in a very aggressive way, which is what the public wants to hear.

Victoria Seaman is a very talented campaigner and a very talented politician, and she understands.

And that's how you grab.

I think she was talking about everything.

-She has law enforcement endorsements.

-Yeah, she does.

The key here is to make sure that people understand it's a mistake to drill down on a specific issue like that, because, well, Were you talking about this?

Were you talking to that?

-Were you talking about this?

Were you talking about that?

Yes, I was talking about all of that.

-[indistinct] --make that, and maybe you wouldn't have said it that way?

-Right.

But you can hear-- I can hear.

I've known her a long time.

I can hear her saying that sitting across the table at lunch, but it identifies everything.

And that's a smart thing to do politically.

So the public understands when they say, Well, she's talking to me.

Now, my issue is homelessness or my issue is immigration or my issue is gangs or my issue is, you know, homicide.

It's, yeah.

Yeah.

-Pull what you want from what she said.

-Pull what you want.

-What did Shelly Berkley do well?

-I mean, obviously Shelly Berkley just has so much experience, broad breadth of everything that she's done.

And so, I mean, her main point was, No matter what comes up, I've probably been involved with that issue in some way, and so it's not going to be something new to me.

And you know, I mean, Ralston kind of said, Do we want maybe fresh blood?

Do we want like the outsider?

And I think she was able to say, I'm a little bit on the outside because I haven't done anything local.

But on the other hand, I know all these issues really well.

-Yeah.

I never understood that whole outsider argument.

I mean, you need people that understand and who have been through this, and you want it.

Why all of a sudden in politics do we not want experienced people?

-It's like term limits.

-Yeah.

-Oh, it sounded nice.

Not working out.

-Don't get me started.

It's the worst thing.

-I heard plenty.

[indistinct] -He and I agree on that.

-But Shelley Berkley, it was really interesting with her because she didn't have to say a thing for you to look at her onstage and say, She's got experience.

She knows what she's doing.

She really has that ability.

And then when she speaks, it just, it just backs that up.

-She could pull her phone out and go, Who do you want to talk to?

-It's interesting because she-- and not just in Nevada, but throughout the country.

-Exactly.

-Okay, but that outsider perspective, you say you need an insider to be effective.

However, both of you are also hearing that there is some upset that Kara Jenkins was not included in this forum.

There are how many, 14 candidates-- -There's a lot.

It's an open primary race, so you get lots of choices.

But that's a lot of candidates.

-Yeah, you've got the big three, and those are the ones that are on the stage.

From what I can tell just sort of anecdotally around town, she, Anderson, is really sort of building a machine out there.

That's gonna be very interesting to see.

Excuse me.

Yeah, sorry.

-Because, I mean, if you're on Instagram, she and all her young supporters were out last night having their own campaign event.

Young people were upset that the black woman was not on the stage.

-Here's a tough one: Does the next mayor of Las Vegas need the endorsement of the Goodmans?

-It's not gonna hurt.

-Yeah.

I was gonna say, I wouldn't-- I don't think it's gonna kill them either if they-- and I can see the Goodmans just staying quiet.

You know, there's probably conversations going on behind the scenes, but I don't see them with a thumb out on the scale.

-Yeah.

I think everybody would want it.

I think at some level, that's gonna give a significant event depending on who it is, right?

You've got to have a campaign in order.

You've got to be a good candidate.

You've got to be-- I think any of the three front runners would benefit tremendously, a Goodman endorsement.

-But again, this is one of our open primary races, because half our races are already open primary.

And I like the fact that there's a lot of people that were willing to step up and run.

I think we're gonna have to figure out as more people are like, Yeah, I should run.

How do we get more people on that debate stage?

How do we allow more people to speak without it taking nine hours of listening to people giving speeches?

I think we're gonna get a lot of young people who are eventually going to say, I don't see anybody that represents me right now.

I should run.

And we should probably hear from them in some way.

-Last question I think was asked at the forum or debate was, Who are you going to vote for, for President?

-Yeah.

We all saw those faces.

Deer in the headlights.

Oh, my gosh.

-What kind of impact-- they all answered.

What kind of impact do you think those answers will have on what voters decide to do?

-I mean, I think each of them were thinking, What are my voters want me to say?

Who is my voter out there?

-Yeah, I mean, I think when it first happened, I thought that was a cheap shot by Jon to do that.

But in reality, I know why he did it.

And he was probably right to do it, because that's something that can sort of help the public cut through where these people really stand on the issues.

The thing that was interesting to me was the level at which they, through the, through the certainty of their answers sort of defended both candidates.

That's risky, you know, to defend President Biden or former President Trump to that degree to say, Yes, absolutely, that's my person, without saying, You know, I might do some things different, but he is certainly a better candidate.

-It was interesting that Shelley Berkley said, This is a nonpartisan race.

And so, I mean, there's something to be said about having some nonpartisan space sometimes.

That's why I was like all of a sudden, Uh-oh, here's a partisan question.

-For the record, Victoria Seaman said she would vote for former President Trump.

Cedric Crear, as well as Shelley Berkley, said, President Joe Biden.

The primary is June 11.

And if no candidate in this race gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two will go to the November general election.

-Correct.

-All right.

Thank you both for your time.