News - April 23, 2026 - by Ray Hagar

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Incumbent Chris Hicks and challenger Wes Duncan came out swinging Wednesday in their Nevada Newsmakers debate. And the two candidates for Washoe County district attorney did not let up until the debate was over.

Duncan attacked Hicks, the Washoe D.A. for the past 15 years, for a high crime rate and his membership in a good 'ol boys network. Yet Duncan, the Sparks city attorney, saved his hardest-hitting punches for the alleged nepotism in the DA's office since Hicks' wife is a high-ranking prosecutor in the office her husband oversees.

Together, they're ripping off Washoe County taxpayers, Duncan charged.

"Mr. Hicks and his wife make $550,000 a year on the taxpayer dime," Duncan told moderator Sam Shad about their combined salaries. "That's why he's doing ethical gymnastics, to try to get around this issue, because he benefits from it financially to the tune of $550,000.

"He thinks he's above the law," Duncan continued. "And it's not right."

Hicks returned fire, calling Duncan a lair many times.

"So, in his first sentence, bam! Yet again, he starts with a lie," Hicks said at one point in the debate.

Hicks countered Duncan's assertions on nepotism and a perceived high-crime rate with credible comebacks. Hicks also questioned if Duncan would be too chummy with police, which would lead to bringing weak cases to the DA's office for prosecution.

"You cannot be a rubber stamp for law enforcement," Hicks said of Duncan. "You cannot always have the back of the police unions."

He also described Duncan as a office-climbing politician who doesn't stay in one job very long.

"He is a career politician who will say anything and do anything to get to the next rung of the political ladder, without ever gaining any meaningful experience," Hicks said about Duncan.

Duncan said Hicks benefits from a system where the people on top help their friends.

"He (Hicks) can call me a liar as much as he wants," Duncan said. "Facts are the facts, and they're stubborn things. This is quite simply incumbents supporting incumbents. Chris Hicks is in the pocket of every single special interest (group) who've tried to run this town for the last 50 years."

The nepotism question

The nepotism accusations, however, were taken as below-the-belt blows by Hicks.

"Wes Duncan wants to make this race about my wife, and that's shameful," Hicks said. "He is trying to suggest that my wife should be fired -- despite all of what she's done for this community, what she's done for kids with the Child Advocacy Center, what she's done for murder victims -- because we're married.

"And what I would end with is he should just stick with me (in the debate) because she (Hicks' wife) is so far out of his league," Hicks said, before addressing Duncan directly: "You should not even be able to say her name."

The issue of nepotism in the DA's office has been given oxygen by reports in Bob Conrad's "This Is Reno," online news outlet. A complaint about nepotism in the Washoe DA's office has also reportedly been filed with the Nevada Commission on Ethics.

Hicks said he has yet to be contacted by the ethics commission and only knew of the complaint because of a press release.

He said the issue had been long resolved, only to rise again because of Duncan's campaign.

"There is no nepotism in the DA's office," Hicks said. "I've explained this many times before. It's old news trying to be recycled by Wes Duncan, again, telling lies."

Hicks explained the situation with his wife, Nicole Hicks:

"My wife and I met in the DA's office many years ago," he said. "We had the exact same position. We fell in love, like so many people do at work. We got married, and then ultimately, my predecessor, Dick Gammick, asked me to run for DA, just like many people in the community did. And we made sure that we could do that. Because my wife on her own is an extraordinary prosecutor. She's done amazing things for this community, and we wanted to make sure that we could both continue serving.

"We followed every ethics law," Hicks continued. "We followed every attorney general's opinion on the matter. We followed Supreme Court precedent. We've worked with (Washoe) County HR (human resources) on the matter. And the fact is, there is no nepotism since day one. As DA, I have had nothing to do with any personnel decisions involving my wife, which is the exact structure that it should be."

Hicks also takes pride in the work he and his wife have done for decades in Washoe County.

The two of us collectively have served as prosecutors for over 45 years," Hicks said. "This man (Duncan) just jumps from one job to the next, and he has no meaningful prosecutorial experience. And he thinks he can be DA. So let's talk about the record. Instead of trying to bring my wife into the conversation."

Duncan, however, said Hicks should should have taken a lesson from his own family's history on nepotism.

"There's actually precedent for this.... When Mr. Hicks's dad became district attorney in the 1970s, his uncle, Bud (Hicks) actually quit (the DA's office)," Duncan said. "So back in the 1970s, the Hicks family knew what the ethical thing was to do.

"So why don't you just follow the precedent that your dad and your uncle set years ago and be ethical and follow the law? It's really easy," Duncan said.

Duncan said Nicole Hicks caused trouble in the DA's office.

"Actually the reason why this case is even more egregious, as reported by 'This is Reno,' is that there was an HR investigation because his wife was creating a toxic work environment."

Duncan said Hicks' wife was demoted after the investigation. She later returned to her previous rank after a job search where no other candidates were considered, Duncan said.

"It (creating a toxic work environment) was obviously substantiated because she was demoted from the position, then brought back to the office instead of being fired," Duncan said. "And then a few short years later, instead of going through a competitive process where there were other candidates who could have done the job as well, she's promoted back to chief (deputy DA), where she makes $250,000."

Hicks said Duncan is unclear about the law.

"Beyond his lying, he shows his inexperience and misunderstanding of the law," Hicks said of Duncan. "The law is very clear. To employ means to hire -- not when someone's already been in the office. That's what all the authority states. It's very clear there are no ethics violations."

Duncan's stance is an insult to Nicole Hicks, her husband said.

"It is so demeaning and misogynistic that he would suggest the only reason that a woman is being successful in the workplace is because her husband is the DA," Hicks said. "She has done amazing things for this community, just like I have."

Duncan said it was also unethical for Nicole Hicks to be in the chain-of-command under her husband in the DA's office.

"There's a 2025 ethics opinion that says ... if you have Chris Hicks, then have Zach Young and then have Nicole Hicks, that is a prohibited, unethical chain-of -command," Duncan said. "That's a 2025 ethics opinion and he's not following it. So he's going to skirt around the issue and not really deal with it."

Eventually, Hicks grew weary of debating the issue.

"I am not going to dignify it any further," he said. "So let's go on to something else."

Crime rate questions

Duncan tried hitting Hicks hard on the Washoe County crime rate, using FBI statistics.

"The crime rate has been up every single year that Mr. Hicks has been a district attorney," Duncan said. "You look at Reno, the violent crime rate is 57 percent above the national average."

Duncan said Hicks does not prosecute enough crimes that impact citizens.

"Think about the cases that aren't going forward," Duncan said. "I'm running to try to deliver justice for victims who've been denied justice by Mr. Hicks office."

Hicks called those claims preposterous.

"Well, the first thing I would say is it's shocking that someone running for DA would rely on the FBI crime statistics. Those are widely panned," Hicks said, pointing to the many gaps in the FBI reporting.

"What you can rely on for crime statistics is Nevada crime statistics," Hicks said. "It's our own internal database. And, you know, you're going to see throughout this debate that Wes is just lying throughout this campaign, his whole campaign is built on lies. And this is just the first one.

"Crime is down in Nevada, in Washoe County, across the board and over its five-year high trends," Hicks said. "And I can also say, as the DA, I see what comes into my office. And from 2024 criminal case submissions from law enforcement to 2025, it dropped by 24 percent. That's the meaningful numbers."

Debate over endorsements

Both candidates claimed to have the endorsements of the people who matter.

Duncan said he's endorsed by rank-and-file police. His campaign website shows endorsements from the Washoe County Sheriff's Deputy Association and the Sparks and Reno police protective associations. It also shows endorsements from other Nevada police unions that are not affiliated with Washoe County law enforcement.

"The folks who are putting the bullet-proof vests on, wearing the gun on the hip, putting their life on the line every day that are impacted by the lack of cooperation and leadership from the DA's office, they're supporting us," Duncan said. "It just means that they trust that that I'll have the leadership to make sure that they're heard and that their cases go forward."

Hicks called a foul.

"Yet again, he (Duncan) starts with a lie," Hicks said. "He is not unanimously endorsed by law enforcement. Wes
Duncan is pumping out information to this community. Thousands of mailers, billboards, door knocking, (saying) 'I am unanimously supported by law enforcement.' And that is an outright lie. He is supported by a handful of union board members, and it's not even unanimous there. There are union board members who aren't supporting him."

Hicks noted he has the most prized endorsement of the campaign.

"What I would go to is the No. 1 law enforcement officer in this whole state -- our governor, Joe Lombardo, (former Clark County) Sheriff Joe, Gov. Joe Lombardo is backing me," Hicks said. "He is telling Republicans in our communities, 'Do not vote for this guy (Duncan), vote for this guy (me). And that is because of my record and what I've done. Wes Duncan doesn't want to talk about records, OK? He wants to talk about cases he knows nothing about," Hicks said.

Duncan said some of Hicks' endorsements come from people who are out-of-touch with his current job performance.

"We respect their service but a lot of those folks haven't worn the badge for eight years and again -- respect to their service. But active law enforcement associations who are actually doing the job right now have been impacted by Chris's charging (of crimes for prosecution) policy. Those (older) chiefs, though, weren't impacted by the charging policy of the DA's office over the last three years."

Duncan said he has the endorsement of the rank-and-file police because Hicks does not communicate with them.

"Every single association is with us because he (Hicks) is failing this community and he fails to cooperate and work with them (police). There's a lack of training, there's a lack of communication," Duncan said.

Then Duncan got political in a race that's between two Republicans.

"It's so rare for a sitting district attorney, especially a Republican, to lose the law enforcement support," he said.

"He's managed to lose them all," Duncan continued. "And the sheriff in this community, Sheriff Balaam is remaining neutral in this race. He's been working with Chris (Hicks) for the last eight years and he hasn't endorsed him. And everybody in politics knows when somebody stays neutral, they know what that means."

Hicks warned that Duncan's alliance with and loyalty to police could cause him problems as the DA.

"I would like to ask Mr. Duncan, what's he going to do when he's investigating an officer-involved shooting, which the unions are heavily involved in, when he says, 'I'll always have their back?' What's he going to do when he's negotiating a contract on behalf of the city and the union is trying to get a pay raise, and he's supposed to be representing his client (the city)?

"What's he going to do when he has to review their (police) work every day and occasionally tell them it (the evidence for prosecution) is not there and you've got to go back to the drawing board?" Hicks asked. "He's not going to be able to do it because he's compromised his objectivity."

In closing

In his closing statement Duncan said: "Well, it's very ironic that the guy who's been in elected office twice as long as I have is calling me the career politician. He (Hicks) has been in the (DA's) office for 25 years. His donors may control him. They can control what office he runs for, given the donations. No donors control me. And so they don't get to tell me what I get to run for and where I spend the money."

Hicks then ended the debate, saying: "He (Duncan) never once talked about his experience, his record, what he wants to do. All he tries to do is deflect and say that I'm doing a horrible job. ... I trust this community will look at the facts. The facts are clear. We're doing a good job in the Washoe County DA's office, and that it would make zero sense to replace an experienced prosecutor with Wes Duncan."

 

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