The Political Coalition Behind Marie Rodriguez and Washoe District 2 Commissioner
Devon Reese is raising money for Marie Rodriguez’s Washoe County Commission campaign. His choice of words says a lot about the effort to help Joe’s mother.
Aug 31, 2026
Reno City Councilmember Devon Reese posted a fundraiser invitation for this week in support of Marie Rodriguez for Washoe County Commission District 2.
“Excited to support Marie in this race,” Reese wrote on Facebook. Then came the more interesting sentence:
“A critical pickup for our County.”
A pickup? That is an interesting way to describe a county commission election. Marie Rodriguez, a Democrat, is challenging Republican Jon Killoran, who beat Republican Mike Clark in the primary, for the District 2 seat.
If Rodriguez wins in November, Democrats won’t simply elect another Democrat to public office. They are taking a County Commission seat currently held by a Republican and shifting the vote balance in Washoe, which is critical for issues such as development, especially Sierra Reflections and Red Hawk Golf.
That appears to be the “pick up” Reese is talking about. And the people gathering around Rodriguez’s campaign show how interconnected Democratic politics in Washoe County has become.
Look at the Hosts for the Fundraiser
The September 3 fundraiser is being held at the Reno home of Jon Garman and Lynne Gray, and joining them as hosts are Reno City Councilmembers Miguel Martinez and Devon Reese, Sparks City Councilmember Joe Rodriguez, and Democratic State Senator Skip Daly.
The suggested contributions range from $50 to $5,000, with a $10,000 contribution limit listed on the invitation. This isn’t merely Marie Rodriguez asking voters in District 2 to support her campaign.
Sitting elected officials from Reno, Sparks and the Nevada Legislature are putting their names behind her and helping her raise money. And there are relationships behind those names.
Joe Rodriguez Isn’t Just Another Endorser
Sparks Councilmember Joe Rodriguez is Marie Rodriguez’s son. So if Marie Rodriguez wins the District 2 race, mother and son would simultaneously hold elected offices in two of Washoe County’s major local governments.
Marie on the County Commission, and Joe on the Sparks City Council.
In May, another fundraiser for Marie Rodriguez was hosted by Miguel Martinez, Washoe County School District trustees Beth Smith and Alex Woodley, and Joe Rodriguez. The Washoe County Democratic Party promoted that event on its website.
That makes the September fundraiser less of a one-time collection of endorsements and more evidence of an established political network.
Reese, Martinez and Joe Rodriguez
There is another connection worth remembering. On the night of February 20, Devon Reese posted a photograph of himself with Miguel Martinez and Joe Rodriguez at the Professional Bull Riders event at the Reno Events Center.
Several hours later, Rodriguez was arrested following a crash involving a state vehicle and faced a DUI charge. After news of Rodriguez’s arrest became public, the photograph showing Rodriguez was removed from Reese’s Facebook post.
Sparks council member, state fire marshal Joe Rodriguez fired from state position.
Rodriguez subsequently lost his job as Nevada State Fire Marshal. The Nevada Department of Public Safety terminated him effective February 25.
Rodriguez did not, however, lose his elected position on the Sparks City Council.
Politically, the episode establishes that Reese, Martinez and Rodriguez weren’t strangers who happened to have their names placed on the same campaign flyer months later. They already moved in the same political circles.
Now Reese and Martinez are helping Rodriguez’s mother win a seat on the Washoe County Commission.
On the night that Joe got the DUI, he was at the Pacific Bull Riding event at the Reno Events Center with Reno Councilmembers Devon Reese and Miguel Martinez.
The Coalition Becomes Visible
Look beyond this particular fundraiser and the overlap becomes even clearer. Joe Rodriguez’s own campaign endorsement page lists support from Democratic State Senators Skip Daly and Edgar Flores, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, several Democratic Assembly members, County Commissioner Mariluz Garcia, Reno Councilmembers Devon Reese, Miguel Martinez and Meghan Ebert, and several Washoe County School District trustees.
Link: Joe Rodriguez for Sparks City Council
Now Marie Rodriguez is drawing support from many of the same people. Politics works through coalitions. Labor unions, business groups, activists, donors and elected officials organize around candidates they want elected. But voters should understand how the system works.
There can be an existing network behind the candidate providing endorsements, fundraising connections, introductions to donors, campaign experience and political credibility. In this case, that network stretches across multiple governments.
The plan appears to be for this coalition to further consolidate control over local politics for its benefit and for the benefit of those it supports, such as developers.
How Devon Reese Uses Patronage to Build Power and Influence
In this article, I list the many boards Reese is on and how he gives out jobs and board positions to his friends to consolidate power in Washoe.
From Reno and Sparks to Washoe County
That is what makes Reese’s phrase “critical pickup” particularly revealing.
Marie Rodriguez is running for the Washoe County Commission. Mike Clark currently holds District 2 as a Republican, but lost the primary to Jon Killoran, another republican.
Link: Jon Killoran for Washoe
A Rodriguez victory therefore flips the seat from Republican to Democratic control.
And County Commission seats matter. The five-member commission makes decisions involving development, land use, public safety, taxation, county spending and numerous regional issues.
One seat can affect the balance of power on controversial votes such as Sierra Reflections and Red Hawk Golf, which are important to residents wary of politicians aligned with developers.
When a Reno councilmember such as Reese, who consistently votes with developers, describes electing Rodriguez as a “critical pickup,” it raises a simple question:
A critical pickup for whom and how would this benefit the people of District 2?
Clark vs. Killoran: A Debate That Captured Washoe County’s District 2 Divide
In this article, I explain how the debate between Clark and Killoran unfolded, resulting in Killoran becoming the Republican candidate for Washoe District 2.
Politics Is a Team Sport
We tend to cover elections as contests between individual candidates. But local politics increasingly looks more like a team sport.
The same elected officials endorse one another. They appear at one another’s events. They help raise money for one another. Their political supporters overlap.
Successful politicians can then use the credibility and connections that come with holding office to help the next candidate. The interesting part for voters isn’t that Democrats support another Democrat.
The more important question is how much influence an interconnected group of elected officials can exert across Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County by helping allied candidates win the next available seat, and what will they vote for?
Marie Rodriguez’s campaign provides a useful window into how that process works. Her son already sits on the Sparks City Council. Reno Councilmembers Reese and Martinez have supported Joe Rodriguez and now support Marie.
And now they are trying to flip a County Commission seat.
Perhaps Devon Reese summed up the objective better than anyone else could. It’s a “critical pickup.” The question for Washoe County voters is whether they want to make that pickup for him, because he doesn’t say why it matters to them.
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