Pete Goicoechea, Lori Lane (Photos: Richard Bednarski/Nevada Curent; Lane campaign photo)
Former state legislator Pete Goicoechea was appointed to the Nevada Board of Regents by Gov. Joe Lombardo in December 2024. Now, Goicoechea is hoping voters in District 8 will let him stay on the board for two additional years.
Standing in his way is Lori Lane, an entertainment industry professional who wants the state to revamp its film tax credit program and boost the “experiential entertainment economy.”
The Board of Regents oversees the Nevada System of Higher Education, which is composed of two research universities, a state university, four community colleges, and a research institute. NSHE enrolls more than 100,000 students and has a biennium budget of more than $2 billion dollars.
Regents District 8 includes all of Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Lincoln, Nye, and White Pine counties. It also includes small slivers of neighborhoods on the outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley in Clark County.
Goicoechea was appointed to the board in December 2024 to fill a seat vacated by Shelly Cruz-Crawford, who had been elected to the Nevada State Senate the month prior. Cruz-Crawford’s regent term was set to end in 2028, so the winner of the special election race between Goicoechea or Lane will serve until that date.
Beginning with the 2028 elections, the Board of Regents will have nine members serving four-year terms. The Legislature shrank the board and term lengths in 2023. (Goicoechea, who at the time was serving his final term in the state Senate, voted against that bill, as did all the other Republicans in the Legislature.)
Regents run in nonpartisan races.
Goicoechea, Lane, and two others appeared on the June primary ballot. No candidate received more than 50% of votes, resulting in a runoff between the top two finishers.
Goicoechea, a rancher in Eureka County, came close to securing the seat in the primary, receiving 49.7% of votes. Lane, who lives in Las Vegas, placed a distant second with 30.1% of votes.
Goicoechea does not have a strong online campaign presence but is well known within rural communities and political circles, having held public office for three decades on the Eureka County Commission, state Assembly, and state Senate. He has not been the subject of widespread criticism as have some more conservative regents.
Goicoechea to The Nevada Independent defended the regents’ vote early this year to increase tuition between 9 and 12%, saying, “We didn’t have any choice on that. They had put a 21 percent COLA [cost of living adjustment] in. You’ve got to balance the budget.”
He also took a position against eliminating NSHE’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) committee, though it could potentially be streamlined or combined with other committees.
On her campaign website, Lane emphasizes a desire to update the state film board and create two new entities focused on education, collaboration and innovation.
According to campaign finance reports, Goicoechea raised $5,000 for his campaign in the first half of this year — all of it from the Vegas Chamber. But he has significantly more on cash — $37,420 — on hand from previous years.
Lane on her website notes she has done zero fundraising, writing, “Fundraising for a position that only pays $80 per meeting seems… just weird to me.”
She has also not sought out any endorsements. On her website she explains: “My reason? I am trying to stay as impartial as possible. I don’t want to owe anyone anything, or even allow the perception that I might.”
