Steve Yeager

Steve Yeager

Democratic Party

Nevada State Assembly District 9

Tenure

2016 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

8

Predecessor

David Gardner

Compensation

Base salary

$130/legislative day

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Michigan

Law

Cornell Law School

Personal

Birthplace

Brooklyn Center, Minn.

Profession

Lawyer

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Personal TikTok

Steve Yeager (Democratic Party) is a member of the Nevada State Assembly, representing District 9. He assumed office on November 9, 2016. His current term ends on November 4, 2026.

Yeager was born in 1978 in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in history and Spanish from the University of Michigan and a juris doctorate from Cornell Law School. Yeager worked as a public defender at the Clark County Public Defender’s Office and as a lawyer for Battle Born Injury Lawyers.

Yeager was elected to represent Nevada State Assembly District 9 in 2016. He served as chair of the Judiciary Committee from 2017 to 2022, vice chair of the Corrections, Parole, and Probation Committee from 2017 to 2018, and vice chair of the Growth and Infrastructure Committee from 2019 to 2020. He was elected Assembly speaker in February 2023 in a unanimous vote. The Nevada Independent's Sean Golonka said in 2023 that, after becoming speaker, "Yeager is commanding one of the larger caucuses in recent history — a supermajority of 28 members, a quarter of whom are freshmen."

On his 2024 campaign website, Yeager said his top priorities "included supporting common sense policies like paid sick leave and increasing the minimum wage. I have made it a priority to make it easier to vote, to combat climate change, to protect a woman’s right to choose, and to build our clean energy economy." He supported ballot measures legalizing marijuana and requiring background checks for firearm purchases. In the 2024 general election, Yeager defeated Erica Neely (R) 51.1%-48.9%, his smallest margin of victory since being elected in 2016.

Yeager sponsored bills to change the minimum age requirement to purchase certain firearms to 21, increase spending on electric vehicle infrastructure, and require insurance companies to cover contraceptive drugs. He also sponsored AB236, a 2019 omnibus criminal justice bill that included provisions lowering penalties for nonviolent crimes, increasing funding for diversion programs, and establishing the Nevada Local Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council. Yeager said the bill was "probably the single most important and transformative criminal justice bill" in the Assembly's history.

Yeager completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read his responses.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Yeager was assigned to the following committees:

• Commerce and Labor Committee
• Legislative Operations and Elections Committee
• Ways and Means Committee

2021-2022

Yeager was assigned to the following committees:

• Growth and Infrastructure Committee
• Judiciary Committee, Chair
• Revenue Committee

2019-2020

Yeager was assigned to the following committees:

• Commerce and Labor Committee
• Judiciary Committee, Chair
• Growth and Infrastructure Committee, Vice chair

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Nevada committee assignments, 2017
• Corrections, Parole, and Probation, Vice chair
• Health and Human Services
• Judiciary, Chair
• Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Mining

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Noteworthy legislation

Below is a list of noteworthy legislation sponsored by this individual, including legislation that received substantial media attention, was part of a national trend or debate, or may be considered a noteworthy part of the individual's career.

• Assembly Bill 236 (2019): Yeager sponsored AB236, which was a criminal justice omnibus bill that included provisions lowering penalties for nonviolent crimes, increasing funding for diversion programs, and establishing the Nevada Local Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council. Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed the bill on June 14, 2019.

Elections

2024

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2024

General election

General election for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Incumbent Steve Yeager defeated Erica Neely in the general election for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Yeager (D)	51.1	17,801
		Erica Neely (R)	48.9	17,026

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,827
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Incumbent Steve Yeager defeated Adeline Celio in the Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on June 11, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Yeager	83.1	2,480
	Submit photo	Adeline Celio	16.9	503

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,983
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Erica Neely advanced from the Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Yeager in this election.

2022

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2022

General election

General election for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Incumbent Steve Yeager defeated Ryan Fleming in the general election for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Yeager (D)	53.2	12,181
		Ryan Fleming (R)	46.8	10,710

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,891
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steve Yeager advanced from the Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Ryan Fleming defeated John Gonzalez in the Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on June 14, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan Fleming	58.5	1,949
	Submit photo	John Gonzalez	41.5	1,382

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,331
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2020

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2020

General election

General election for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Incumbent Steve Yeager defeated Barbara Altman in the general election for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Yeager (D)	55.2	23,474
	Submit photo	Barbara Altman (R)	44.8	19,084

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 42,558
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Steve Yeager advanced from the Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Barbara Altman advanced from the Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9.

2018

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2018

General election

General election for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Incumbent Steve Yeager defeated Linda Cannon in the general election for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Yeager (D)	57.8	15,484
		Linda Cannon (R)	42.2	11,317

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 26,801
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Incumbent Steve Yeager advanced from the Democratic primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Steve Yeager

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9

Linda Cannon defeated Barry Keller in the Republican primary for Nevada State Assembly District 9 on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Linda Cannon	70.3	1,549
		Barry Keller	29.7	653

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 2,202
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

Obama endorsement
During the 2016 election cycle Yeager was one of the candidates endorsed by President Barack Obama
Full list of Obama's 2016 endorsements

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2016

Elections for the Nevada State Assembly took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.

Steve Yeager defeated incumbent David M. Gardner in the Nevada State Assembly District 9 general election.

Nevada State Assembly, District 9 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Steve Yeager	55.32%	15,181
	Republican	David M. Gardner Incumbent	44.68%	12,262
Total Votes				27,443
Source: Nevada Secretary of State

Steve Yeager ran unopposed in the Nevada State Assembly District 9 Democratic primary.

Nevada State Assembly District 9, Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Steve Yeager  (unopposed)

Incumbent David M. Gardner defeated Diana Orrock and Minddie Lloyd in the Nevada State Assembly District 9 Republican primary.

Nevada State Assembly District 9, Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	David M. Gardner Incumbent	45.52%	803
	Republican	Diana Orrock	37.47%	661
	Republican	Minddie Lloyd	17.01%	300
Total Votes				1,764

2014

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2014

Elections for the Nevada State Assembly took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 10, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 14, 2014. Steve Yeager defeated Kelly Mercer and Joe Tinio in the Democratic primary, while David M. Gardner ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Gardner defeated Yeager in the general election.

Nevada State Assembly District 9, General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	David M. Gardner	52.1%	5,630
	Democratic	Steve Yeager	47.9%	5,176
Total Votes				10,806

Nevada State Assembly, District 9 Democratic Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Steve Yeager	63%	814
Joe Tinio	18.6%	240
Kelly Mercer	18.5%	239
Total Votes		1,293

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Steve Yeager did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Steve Yeager completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Yeager's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a dedicated hard worker committed to bringing people together to find solutions to the challenges we face in Nevada. I am willing to work with anybody who comes to the table in good faith and brings ideas. My past work in the Legislature bears that out, as we have been able to accomplish more than anybody thought possible over the past few years.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I believe in our democracy. We should make it as easy to vote as possible so every eligible voter who wants to participate in our electoral process can do so without having to scale artificial and unnecessary barriers.
• I believe in a woman's right to choose abortion.
• I believe that education is the gateway to success and that, to improve our education system, we must hold both the local school districts and the local school boards accountable.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Voting rights; healthcare; criminal justice; access to the outdoors; education.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Steve Yeager did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Yeager's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“

Steve will: Fight for greater parental involvement in our schools, giving families more choice in and more direction of their kids’ future. Work with Governor Sandoval to cut the number of high stakes standardized tests our kids are forced to take - freeing teachers to teach, rather than just teaching to the test. Crack down on the regulators who made the decision to kill solar panel subsidies and revive our rooftop solar industry. Support making a bold investment in making Nevada the world’s leader in research, development, and use of clean and renewable energy. Push for increased neighborhood policing efforts and work to strengthen the relationship between our communities and the law enforcement officers who serve us. fight to secure the tools and resources law enforcement officers and first responders need to protect our neighborhoods and families. Push for increased neighborhood policing efforts and work to strengthen the relationship between our communities and the law enforcement officers who serve us.

”

2014

Campaign website

Yeager’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Work to improve education and access to education for all Nevadans. I will do what I can to assist small business owners and to improve and diversify the economy. I will make sure that the poor, the homeless, and the mentally ill are not forgotten, working to improve access to services and thereby making our entire community stronger. In addition, I intend to work hard each and every day to make sure that the government is effectively and efficiently using its resources in a way that assures the best return on investment. In a world of limited revenue, we need to ensure that resources are being spent in areas that offer the biggest return. I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans alike to find common ground and build consensus. If elected, you have my guarantee that I will work harder than anybody else to build a better Nevada, not just for us, but for future generations.	”
—Steve Yeager’s campaign website (2024)

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Steve Yeager campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Nevada State Assembly District 9	Won general	$988,918	$0
2022	Nevada State Assembly District 9	Won general	$906,888	$0
2020	Nevada State Assembly District 9	Won general	$278,659	N/A**
2016	Nevada State Assembly, District 9	Won	$323,393	N/A**
Grand total			$2,497,858	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Nevada

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Nevada scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].
In 2024, the Nevada State Legislature was not in session.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].

In 2023, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 6 to June 5. Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada Legislators are scored on their stances on policies related to reproductive health issues. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].
In 2022, the Nevada State Legislature was not in session.

2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].

In 2021, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 1 to June 1. Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada Legislators are scored on their stances on policies related to reproductive health issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].
In 2020, the Nevada State Legislature was not in session. It was in special session from July 8 to July 19 and from July 31 to August 5. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 4 through June 3. American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Legislators are scored on their votes on bills relating to civil liberties. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].
In 2018, the Nevada State Legislature did not hold a regular session.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].

In 2017, the Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 6 through June 5. American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada Legislators are scored on their votes on bills relating to civil liberties. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic and education issues. RenewNV Legislators are scored on their votes on energy issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].
In 2016, the Nevada State Legislature did not hold a regular session.

See also

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Candidate

Nevada State Assembly District 9

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Nevada State Assembly District 9

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by David Gardner (R)	Nevada State Assembly District 9 2016-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Current members of the Nevada State Assembly

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Steve Yeager

Majority Leader:Sandra Jauregui

Minority Leader:Gregory Hafen

Representatives

District 1

Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D)

District 2

Heidi Kasama (R)

District 3

Selena Torres (D)

District 4

Lisa Cole (R)

District 5

Brittney Miller (D)

District 6

Jovan Jackson (D)

District 7

Tanya Flanagan (D)

District 8

Duy Nguyen (D)

District 9

Steve Yeager (D)

District 10

Venise Karris (D)

District 11

Cinthia Moore (D)

District 12

Max Carter (D)

District 13

Brian Hibbetts (R)

District 14

Erica Mosca (D)

District 15

Howard Watts (D)

District 16

Cecelia González (D)

District 17

Linda Hunt (D)

District 18

Venicia Considine (D)

District 19

Thaddeus Yurek (R)

District 20

David Orentlicher (D)

District 21

Elaine Marzola (D)

District 22

Melissa Hardy (R)

District 23

Danielle Gallant (R)

District 24

Erica Roth (D)

District 25

Selena La Rue Hatch (D)

District 26

Rich DeLong (R)

District 27

Heather Goulding (D)

District 28

Reuben D'Silva (D)

District 29

Joe Dalia (D)

District 30

Natha Anderson (D)

District 31

Jill Dickman (R)

District 32

Alexis Hansen (R)

District 33

Bert Gurr (R)

District 34

Hanadi Nadeem (D)

District 35

Rebecca Edgeworth (R)

District 36

Gregory Hafen (R)

District 37

Shea Backus (D)

District 38

Gregory Koenig (R)

District 39

Ken Gray (R)

District 40

Philip O'Neill (R)

District 41

Sandra Jauregui (D)

District 42

Tracy Brown-May (D)

Democratic Party (27)

Republican Party (15)