An Open Letter
Clark County needs a real choice for District Attorney in 2026—not another automatic re-election. I’m asking you to treat this as a civic call to action and use any platform to help recruit and spotlight a serious challenger to Steve Wolfson. Mr. Wolfson announced today that a challenger should think twice before running against him.
Steve Wolfson despite his lengthy tenure and advanced age has run OUR county’s justice system into the ground between plea deals and limited bonds it’s bad enough, but there are so many more that aren’t even charged.
I have had personal experience with Mr. Wolfson as a sexual assault victim. My assailant was not charged.
Mine was intimate-partner sexual assault which is one of the most common—and most routinely minimized—forms of rape. It rarely looks like the movie version. Survivors often stay. They often remain in contact. They often freeze, comply, or return because trauma, coercion, fear, finances, kids, isolation, and manipulation don’t vanish just because a crime occurred. Those realities are not “proof nothing happened.” They are the predictable dynamics of intimate-partner abuse.
And yet I was told directly that my case could not be prosecuted because:
“[He] could prosecute men who raped prostitutes, but you stayed with him.”
-Steve Wolfson, October 2024
The effect of that statement was clear: a hierarchy of victims—some “good,” some disposable. It felt like a moral judgment that reduced me to a category, basically calling me a slut instead of treating me like a human being reporting a crime. In addition it is not even a correct statement of the law both federally and in Nevada.
Worse: after personally declining charges three times, Steve Wolfson told me he had never watched the video evidence. When I began playing it on my phone—where I can be heard screaming “please stop” and “no”—he abruptly ended the meeting and hurried out of the room.
If a District Attorney won’t even look at direct evidence before shutting the door, Clark County cannot pretend this is working.
So here is the ask—directly to you: make it safe for someone credible to run. Nevada’s candidate filing period for non-judicial offices is March 2–13, 2026
-Run a public call: Who is running against Steve Wolfson? If no one is, why not?
-Start naming the lane: former prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and serious civic leaders—this office is winnable if people believe it is.
-Force the conversation
-Give challengers oxygen: profiles, interviews, and a clear message that this election is not a formality.
And to qualified candidates reading this: if you’ve ever complained privately about the culture, the priorities, or the blind spots as I know so many in Las Vegas legal community do—stop whispering. Run.
Clark County cannot go on like this. Women cannot go on like this. We need a DA who does basic due diligence, treats victims with respect, and who serves the community—not stereotypes.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Light
Clark County, Nevada
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