Alexis Hill: The Image, the Money, and the Consultant Behind the Campaign

As with any campaign, voters should look beyond the surface presentation — at the messaging, the money, and the professionals shaping everything.

Michael Leonard

Jan 19, 2026

Alexis Hill is currently a Washoe County Commissioner (District 1). In 2025–2026, she announced her candidacy for Governor of Nevada, embarking on what she calls the “Ask Alexis Anything” tour—a series of appearances across the state framed as listening sessions with voters.

The tour, promoted heavily on social media, shows Hill meeting with county Democratic organizations, holding small-group conversations, and visiting towns like Tonopah. The visual narrative is deliberate: approachable, conversational, and statewide.

A sitting county commissioner traveling in Nevada is not a routine exercise in governance; it is a clear signal of higher-office ambition.

One wonders how county business is being handled and how the Ward 1 constituents feel about this focus on political ambition. I have heard from some who are not pleased that Alexis didn’t find time to consider the Truckee River Park Access Plan.

Washoe County Should Adopt the Truckee River Park Access Partnership with Reno River Inn

The Messaging: “Fed-Up,” Populist, and Relatable

As with any campaign, voters should look beyond the surface presentation — at the messaging, the money, and the professionals shaping both.

On her campaign website, Alexis Hill presents herself not primarily as an elected official, but as a “fed-up resident” reacting to a system that no longer works for working families.

Key themes include:

  • Nevada has become too expensive for ordinary people

  • The government has failed on basics like housing, schools, and public safety

  • Tax incentives have favored corporations over families

  • The system needs reform, not maintenance

The tone is intentionally populist. Hill emphasizes her identity as a mother and Nevadan who understands frustration at rising costs and institutional inertia.

Her message is clear: she is not the establishment — she is reacting to it.

This framing aligns neatly with the “Ask Alexis Anything” tour branding, which suggests openness, accessibility, and authenticity.

You can read the messaging on her website here: Alexis Hill for Nevada

A Campaign Largely Funded From Within

Campaign finance filings tell a more complex story. Hill’s 2025 Contributions & Expenses (C&E) report, filed with the Nevada Secretary of State, shows that a substantial portion of her campaign funding came from Hill herself and her immediate family, rather than from broad grassroots support.

Documented contributions include:

  • Matthew Tuma and Alexis Hill:

    • $20,000 (September 2025)

    • $50,000 (October 2025)

    • $40,000 (November 2025)

  • Adrienne Hill (family member): $5,000

  • Susan Hill: $10,000 total

  • Douglas Hill: $10,000 total

These family contributions exceed $100,000, accounting for a significant share of the campaign’s total receipts in 2025 Contributions Hill.

Self-funding is legal and common — but it matters in context. A candidate who markets herself as an organic, fed-up outsider is, in reality, running a campaign made possible in large part by personal and family wealth.

You can read the details here: Alexis Hill 2025 C&E Report

Changing Dynamics and Professional Message Control

Even more revealing is where the money went. Hill’s campaign spent $202,710 on a single firm: Changing Dynamics. This is the same firm used by a councilmember who is running for Mayor.

The C&E filing shows repeated, large payments to Changing Dynamics throughout 2025, all categorized as consulting expenses, including:

  • $57,195.72 (January 2025)

  • $26,711.15 (October 2025)

  • $32,676.97 (November 2025)

  • $22,680.60 (December 2025)

  • $49,000.00 (September 2025)

  • Numerous additional payments across the year

In total, consulting payments to this firm made it the campaign’s single-largest expense in 2025. Changing Dynamics is not a vendor that prints signs or books venues.

The Rise of Riley Sutton, and Changing Dynamics, Reno’s Most Connected Political Consultant

Changing Dynamics is a political consulting firm that typically handles:

  • Campaign messaging and narrative development

  • Website and platform language

  • Voter targeting and persuasion strategy

  • Communications discipline and brand consistency

The scale and consistency of these payments make one thing clear: this is a professionally managed, consultant-driven campaign.

The “fed-up resident” language, the populist framing, and the carefully controlled tone are likely to be constructed based on demographic research conducted by Changing Dynamics, not on Alexis Hill's organic personal convictions.

They reflect a deliberate strategy, backed by substantial financial investment.

I’m not saying that her ideas are good or bad. They are expertly constructed. You’d expect that for $202,710. I will examine them in a future article, coming soon.

Running for Governor in Northern Nevada: A Lesson for Washoe Contenders

Why This Matters to Voters

None of this is illegal or unethical. None of it is unusual for a serious statewide campaign. It’s messaging, it’s positioning, it’s politics. As someone who did product marketing for 25 years, it’s familiar to me. A candidate is a product.

Alexis Hill is not simply a frustrated citizen who decided to run for governor.

She is:

  • A sitting county commissioner

  • Running a statewide campaign

  • Financed mainly by herself and her family

  • Spending heavily on professional political consultants

  • She clearly has political ambition at the top of her list

Her campaign projects accessibility and authenticity, while operating with the resources and structure of a top-down, professionally engineered political operation.

Alexis Hill presents herself as someone who understands what’s broken in Nevada. But her campaign spent more than $200,000 on political consultants whose job is to decide how issues are framed and explained to voters. Voters deserve to know the difference between lived experience that informs judgment and messaging that’s professionally constructed to sound like it does.

Voters should always look beyond the surface and get to know their candidate.

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