Jones, Hammargren file for governor’s race

Monday, May 18, 1998 | 11:26 a.m.

The governor's race just got hotter.

Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren, a Republican, filed this morning for the chance to live in the governor's mansion.

In the primary, Jones' principal challenger will be state Sen. Joe Neal, who declared his candidacy several months ago.

On her way into the secretary of state's office at the Sawyer State Office Building today at about 11:10 a.m., Jones said she has no concrete campaign plans but will "take it as it comes." She said there will be plenty of issues to debate.

Hammargren, completing his first term as lieutenant governor, will face Las Vegas businessman Kenny Guinn and Nevada newcomer Aaron Russo in the Republican primary.

Guinn, who has been running for the past two years, has more than $3 million in his campaign coffers. Russo, a wealthy Hollywood producer who moved to Nevada two years ago, is running on a states-rights platform.