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Supreme Court Justices Jim Hardesty and Ron Parraguirre kicked off the first official event of the 2016 political year on Monday by filing for re-election to their seats.
Judicial candidate filings are held much earlier than filings for other political offices in Nevada as an effort to reduce the need to raise campaign contributions. Since most incumbent judges end up running unopposed, the early filing season allows the state to shut off campaign fundraising for judges.
Judicial filing remains open through Jan. 15. Filing for all other candidates for elected office runs March 7-18.
Parraguirre began his judicial career in 1991 winning a seat on the Las Vegas Municipal Court. He was appointed to the District Court in Clark County in 1999. He won a seat on the Supreme Court in 2004 and is currently seeking his third six-year term on that court. In addition, with the advent of the new year, Parraguirre also assumed the position of chief justice.
Hardesty is seeking his third six-year term on the Supreme Court. He served as a district judge in Reno from 1998 until 2004 when he was first elected to the high court.
Hardesty and Parraguirre were joined in filing on day one by Court of Appeals judges Abbi Silver and Jerome Tao, who both filed in the Las Vegas offices of the Secretary of State.
The third appellate judge, Michael Gibbons, filed Monday in the Carson City office.
This will be the first election to those three appellate court posts since the Court of Appeals was created in January 2015 and the three current judges appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Tao was appointed to the bench in Clark County in 2011. Silver was first elected to Las Vegas Municipal Court in 2003 then Justice Court in 2006 before being elected to the District Court fin Las Vegas in 2009.
Judge Gibbons served 20 years as a District Judge in Douglas County before being appointed to the intermediate Court of Appeals.
Few other district judge’s are up for election in 2016 since nearly all were elected two years ago. Among the few open seats are the judgeships vacated by Gibbons in Douglas County, Tao and Silver in Clark County.