Melissa Woodbury to run for Assembly District 23

LAS VEGAS-With the announcement today that Republican Melissa Woodbury will run for the open 23rd Assembly District seat now held by Democrat Rosemary Womack, Las Vegas now has had two assembly candidates with a local school named for a parent announce in the last 48 hours.

Woodbury, a 39-year-old teacher from Henderson and daughter of longtime Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, has contracted with Ryan Erwin & Associates to manage her campaign and today released a statement announcing her candidacy.

"I'm running for the Assembly to help all Nevada's students receive a quality education and ensure that our community is a place where my students can be proud to raise their families in the future," said Woodbury.

Woodbury said her campaign will focus largely on improving education by increasing "autonomy at the site level," and said she is not in favor of raising taxes to fund education improvements.

"I think we need to focus first on reallocating funds to the right places and be more efficient with what we have," said Woodbury.  "What can be done better?  Where can the money be better spent and where is it being spent that is not having the effects that we want?"

Woodbury has been an educator in Clark County since 1994.

Woodbury's likely Democratic opponent in the November election is Allison Herr, a 44-year-old lawyer and former prosecutor.  Herr announced her intention to run in January.

The 23rd District, home of former Democratic Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, has a strong Democratic advantage in voter registration.  As of March, according to the secretary of state's office, there were over 2,100 more registered Democrats in the district than Republicans.