Edgeworth is facing Joe Spica, a bellman at The Cosmopolitan and a steward with the Culinary Union who says he would use the seat to support Nevadans through a difficult time.
"The past few years have been really hard for working families, particularly mine," he said. "No one's actually standing up for people like us in government, and that's an issue."
Spica ties his interest in politics to rising costs for his family and declining visitation to the Strip — a trend some have attributed to new fees and tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump (R).
But Spica wouldn't explicitly blame Trump or Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) for the tourism slump, saying instead it was the product of a "perfect storm" and that "you can't just blame one thing." He also initially declined to discuss Edgeworth, although in a later comment Spica wrote that he believed Edgeworth had been too supportive of Lombardo and that some of the bills vetoed by the governor last session had touched on "affordability issues."
Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, was more forceful, describing Edgeworth as a "rubber stamp for Lombardo and Trump" who is "afraid to stand up and fight for Nevadans."