Suzan Baucum

Suzan Baucum is a judge for Department 4 of the Las Vegas Township Justice Court in Nevada. She assumed office on January 6, 2025. Her current term ends on January 1, 2029.

Baucum ran in a special election for the Department 4 judge of the Las Vegas Township Justice Court in Nevada. She won in the special general election on November 5, 2024.

Elections

2024

General election

Special general election for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 4

Suzan Baucum defeated James Dean Leavitt, Jessica Smith-Peterson, Hilary Heap, and Holly Stoberski in the special general election for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 4 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Suzan Baucum (Nonpartisan)	27.1	141,859
	James Dean Leavitt (Nonpartisan)	24.2	126,909
	Jessica Smith-Peterson (Nonpartisan)	22.4	117,081
	Hilary Heap (Nonpartisan)	13.3	69,629
	Holly Stoberski (Nonpartisan)	13.0	68,264

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 523,742
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Baucum in this election.

2022

General election

General election for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 13

Rebecca Saxe defeated incumbent Suzan Baucum in the general election for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 13 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Rebecca Saxe (Nonpartisan)	51.0	183,299
	Suzan Baucum (Nonpartisan)	49.0	176,277

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 359,576
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Suzan Baucum and Rebecca Saxe advanced from the primary for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 13.

2016

See also: Municipal elections in Clark County, Nevada (2016)

Incumbent Suzan Baucum defeated Shana Bachman in the general election for the District 13 justice of the peace for Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Township Justice of the Peace, District 13 General Election, 2016
Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Suzan Baucum Incumbent	51.92%	205,241
	Shana Bachman	48.08%	190,035
Total Votes			395,276
Source: Clark County, Nevada, "2016 General Election," accessed November 8, 2016

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Suzan Baucum did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

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

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

In my time on the bench, I have worked hard to provide a stable, professional courtroom, wherein everyone who comes before me receives an opportunity to state their case and get a fair shake. I have also worked hard to streamline our processes, so all involved may have their matters heard in a timely matter. My tenure as Justice of the Peace has been a successful one, and I am more experienced than anyone else in the race. I served as Chief Judge of the Las Vegas Justice Court and was the Executive Director of the Nevada Law Foundation – a non-profit group dedicated to serving the legal needs of our state’s less fortunate and indigent citizens – for nearly twenty years. For nearly a decade, I oversaw the busiest DUI Court in the country, and was proud to institute many technologies that not only saved lives, but decreased recidivism. Through my temperament, experience, and dedication to justice, I have more to offer Las Vegas and our community, and would ask that you please vote for me in the general election.

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?

As a native Las Vegan, more than anything, I want to do my part to see to it that our citizens are safe, and that all have an equal access to justice.
I am more experienced than anyone in the race.
My tenure as Judge has been a successful one and I look forward to continuing to serve Las Vegas.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

While our state and city do much to address the issue, we must continue to make progress with regards to providing all citizens adequate access to the legal system. In my time as Executive Director of the Nevada Law Foundation, I saw, first hand, the difficulty Nevada’s poor and indigent had with regards to their legal issues. Oftentimes, something as simple as lacking a physical address can be a barrier to justice, thereby leaving the homeless community as a whole without adequate support/representation. I have advocated for a system wherein quality advocacy and access to justice was not based on socioeconomic status. Along those lines, one of the overwhelming issues faced by our judicial system is our caseload. There are simply too many cases to be heard by too few judges, which has led to crippling backlog The result of this is that defendants often do not have their cases heard in a timely manner. I can speak to this issue, first hand, as, for ten years, I oversaw the largest caseload of any DUI court in the country. Also, when I first took the bench, I presided over a civil calendar wherein over 6,000 default judgment had not yet been processed. Along with another Judge, we worked longs hours and holidays to clear this backlog over the course of three months. Having been a Judge for twelve years now, I also feel that one of the pertinent issues plaguing our justice system is lack of public education with regards to the law, and have worked hard to improve education.

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Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 4

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Footnotes

Nevada courts

Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Nevada • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Nevada

State courts:

Nevada Supreme Court • Nevada Court of Appeals • Nevada District Courts • Nevada Justice Courts • Nevada Municipal Courts • Clark County Family Court, Nevada

State resources:

Courts in Nevada • Nevada judicial elections • Judicial selection in Nevada

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Suzan Baucum

Contents

Elections

2024

General election

Special general election for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 4

Endorsements

2022

General election

General election for Las Vegas Township Justice Court Department 13

Nonpartisan primary election

2016

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

2022

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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Public Policy

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