Wesley Duncan

Wesley Duncan

Republican Party

Prior offices

Nevada State Assembly District 37

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 6, 2018

Education

Bachelor's

University of California, Berkeley

Law

The Ohio State University

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Air Force

Service / branch

U.S. Air Force Reserve

Personal

Religion

Christian

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Wesley Duncan (Republican Party) was a member of the Nevada State Assembly, representing District 37. Duncan assumed office on February 4, 2013. Duncan left office on December 4, 2014.

Duncan (Republican Party) ran for election for Attorney General of Nevada. Duncan lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.

Duncan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read the survey answers.

Duncan was a Republican member of the Nevada State Assembly, representing District 37 from 2012 to December 4, 2014. He resigned after he was hired by incoming Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) to serve as chief assistant.

Elections

2018

See also: Nevada Attorney General election, 2018

See also: Nevada Attorney General election, 2018 (June 12 Republican primary)

General election

General election for Attorney General of Nevada

Aaron Ford defeated Wesley Duncan and Joel Hansen in the general election for Attorney General of Nevada on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Aaron Ford (D)	47.2	456,225
		Wesley Duncan (R)	46.8	451,692
		Joel Hansen (Independent American Party)	3.3	32,259
		Other/Write-in votes	2.6	25,577

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 965,753 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Nevada

Aaron Ford defeated Stuart MacKie in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Nevada on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Aaron Ford	78.1	94,699
	Submit photo	Stuart MacKie	21.9	26,619

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 121,318
= 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 Attorney General of Nevada

Wesley Duncan defeated Craig Mueller in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Nevada on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Wesley Duncan	65.5	82,453
		Craig Mueller	34.5	43,361

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 125,814
= 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.

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. Incumbent Wesley Duncan ran unopposed in the Republican primary, while Gerald Mackin was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Lou Pombo ran as a Libertarian candidate. Duncan defeated Mackin and Pombo in the general election.

Nevada State Assembly District 37, General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Wesley Duncan Incumbent	61.4%	10,855
	Democratic	Gerald Mackin	36%	6,362
	Libertarian	Lou Pombo	2.7%	470
Total Votes				17,687

2012

See also: Nevada State Assembly elections, 2012

Duncan ran in the 2012 election for Nevada State Assembly, District 37. Duncan ran unopposed in the June 12 primary election and defeated incumbent Marcus Conklin (D) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.

Nevada State Assembly, District 37, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Wesley Duncan	51.1%	14,969
	Democratic	Marcus Conklin Incumbent	48.9%	14,296
Total Votes				29,265

Campaign themes

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys

Wesley Duncan participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on May 16, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Wesley Duncan's responses follow below.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

“

Decreasing violent crime, defending the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions, be an effective partner to local law enforcement.

”

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?

“

I am especially passionate about increasing resources for mental health initiatives for our law enforcement community. When someone is in the middle of a mental health crisis and someone calls 9-1-1, we need to make sure that those people are getting treated - not sent to jail or to a conventional ER.

”

Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Wesley Duncan answered the following:

The attorney general often sets policy priorities for law enforcement. For example, a state's attorney general may decide to dedicate extra resources to combat human trafficking. Are there certain areas of law enforcement that you would emphasize?

“

Mental health and substance abuse initiatives will help prevent crime before it starts. However, I will also prioritize increasing sentencing for violent repeat offenders.

”

Attorney's general can represent their states in legal conflicts with the federal government. Do you consider this an important part of an attorney general's responsibilities?

“

Balancing our relationship with the federal government, especially in cases of federal overreach, is a very important responsibility of the Attorney General.

”

Do you believe that it's beneficial for a state's attorney general to have previous experience in government or politics?

“

Experience is usually helpful because it is a very complex job. If you spend your first year doing on-the-job training because you don't understand how state government works in a practical sense, there will likely be important work that falls through the cracks.

”

Campaign website

Duncan’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Safer Nevada Plan The first job of Nevada’s Attorney General is to keep people safe. I am running for Attorney General because I want to make Nevada the safest place to raise a family. The Attorney General is responsible for prosecuting dangerous criminals, protecting consumers from deceptive business practices, and everything in between. It’s a job that takes leadership and requires constant teamwork across numerous law enforcement agencies throughout Nevada. I have traveled to every county in Nevada and discussed law enforcement priorities with the officers who actually patrol your neighborhood. I’m proud to be the only candidate endorsed by our sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys and prosecutors in Nevada, and I have used their feedback to build an outline of how we can make Nevada a safer place for all of us to live. TOUGH ON CRIME: Violent crime, often perpetrated by hardened career criminals, can only be deterred by the prospect of real punishment. I believe we need to toughen sentencing standards for violent criminals, home invaders, domestic and elder abusers. These are brutal, premeditated crimes that tear at the fabric of our communities. When it comes to committing such crimes in Nevada, every criminal should know one thing: Hard criminals will serve hard time – period. SMART ON CRIME: A large percentage of police interactions occur in proximity to mental illness (this often occurs when someone represents a threat to themselves or others during a mental health crisis, and sometimes breaking a law). Someone calls 9-1-1 and, too often, these people end up in jails or traditional emergency rooms that are not equipped to properly diagnose or treat them. Often times, the same individuals end up in the same jails and emergency rooms, again and again, at taxpayer expense. As your next Attorney General, I want to reform this wasteful cycle and get our police officers back on patrol in our communities. There are effective mental health resources that already work well in some parts of our state which we should replicate, including psychiatric ERs and Mobile Outreach Safety Teams (MOST). In terms of breaking the cycle of domestic violence, Nevada’s biggest missing link is transitional housing for victims of domestic abuse. Nevada is the second worst state in the U.S. for men killing women – an unacceptable and wholly preventable statistic. In Nevada, abuse victims must be able to swiftly escape from dangerous situations – which means housing arrangements that allow children, some pets and other potential victims. These are small changes, but they save lives. Being smart on crime also means knowing how to put plans into action without breaking the bank for taxpaying Nevadans. As the First Assistant Attorney General of Nevada from 2015 to 2017, I served as Vice Chair of the Sexual Assault Kit Working Group. Our mission was to clear a backlog of 8,000 untested sexual assault kits from around our state. Some of these kits dated back to the 1980s. We did just that, and we didn’t charge the taxpayer a single penny. Instead, we did the hard work of securing a mix of federal grants and state settlement funds to pay for the thousands of DNA tests required to clear the backlog. The result: over a dozen arrests have resulted from testing those backlogged kits. Nevada got a little bit safer. EARLY INTERVENTION: Most crime is not committed by hardened criminals or the mentally ill. As your Attorney General, I will partner with local communities to foster the development of after-school programs and youth outreach to prevent the root causes of crime. The classroom is where our kids develop social skills, make friends, and learn to work together. After-school programs are a healthy way to build on those schoolhouse lessons. In Nevada, plenty of character-building youth organizations exist beyond the school yard as well. Organizations like the Las Vegas Metro Police Explorers, community sports leagues, After School All Stars, the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets, and many others. A big part of crime prevention involves giving young people something healthy to fill the space where criminality so often develops. We should be proactive in meeting that challenge. As your Attorney General, I will make partnering with community organizations a priority. MY PROMISE All of these plans have one major thing in common: partnership. A good Attorney General is someone who engages every entity responsible for public safety, in each unique community, and keeps up a continuous dialogue to understand how to best support them. In this way, the Attorney General is also among the best positioned to learn and spread best practices across our state and ensure that we are keeping what works and scraping what doesn’t. A good Attorney General is a servant-leader. As a military officer and as the former First Assistant Attorney General, I have spent my life in public service building and maintaining those kinds of relationships. I believe that is why I have the endorsement of Nevada law enforcement. I promise that, first and foremost, I will be a partner to your community. That is how we will make Nevada the safest place to raise a family.	”
—Duncan for Attorney General

Campaign advertisements

The following is an example of an ad from Duncan's 2018 election campaign.

"Tested" - Duncan ad, released September 13, 2018

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Duncan served on the following committees:

Nevada committee assignments, 2013
• Education
• Health and Human Services
• Judiciary
• Legislative Operations and Elections

Campaign finance summary

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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.

2014

In 2014, the Nevada State Legislature did not hold a regular session.

2013

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show].

In 2013, the 77th Nevada State Legislature was in session from February 4 through June 4. Citizen Outreach: Ratings for the 2013 Nevada Legislature Legislators are scored on their votes for or against Citizen Outreach’s position. Nevada Conservation League: Senate and Assembly Legislators are scored on environment and conservation issues. Nevada Policy Research Institute: The 2013 Nevada Legislative Session Review & Report Card Legislators are scored on their voting record concerning economic issues. Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada: Facing Race – 2013 Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity Legislators are scored by the organization on bills related to "civic engagement, access to justice, health equity, economic opportunities, civil rights and economic equity." The American Conservative Union: 2013 Legislative Scorecard Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

See also

• Attorney General of Nevada
• Nevada Attorney General election, 2018
• Nevada State Assembly
• House Committees
• Nevada State Legislature
• Nevada state legislative districts

External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic
• Attorney General of Nevada
• Official campaign website
• Profile from Open States
• Wesley Duncan on Twitter
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Marcus Conklin (D)	Nevada State Assembly District 37 2013–2014	Succeeded by Glenn Trowbridge (R)